bThis I Promise You /b
IBy Jules/i


IbChapter 4/I/b
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Cordelia took a deep breath, before going into her father's study.

Her parents were due back last night.

She'd had a bad feeling all week, and no matter how morbid it had felt, a few day's ago she'd had her father change her legal guardian to Duncan before he stepped one foot out of his hotel room that day. He'd promised and had drawn up the papers and signed them that night. And had them filed, making everything legally air tight. Though a he had made her promise a thorough explanation who the hell Duncan MacLeod was, and why she wanted him to be her legal guardian before he'd got home. But he always did everything his little princess asked him too, and a request this odd wasn't too unusual, so he did so as she had requested.


Now was the time to face the music, she just prayed the story she'd prepared would sound convincing enough that her father would believe it.

Cautiously she opened the door and stuck her head in, it was dark, and very empty. The bad feeling she'd been having grew worse. She ran into her parent's room, flinging the door open.

It was empty.

The curtain's still drawn closed, every thing exactly as it had been after Carmen had prepared it the day before in anticipation of Cordelia's parents' arrival.
She looked around more, and found her mother's medications weren't on the nightstand where they always were when her ailing mother was home.

Theories raced though Cordelia's mind I'Where are they? They didn't come back. If they were going to be delayed they would have called me. Where could they -'/I

The doorbell interrupted her thoughts. Cordelia raced down the grand staircase, surprisingly fast for someone in platforms, and opened the door to a graying man in a dark suit waiting with a younger dark haired man in Khakis, a dark blue shirt, a tie, and a sport coat.

"Miss Cordelia Chase?" The younger one questioned.

She silently nodded her head.

"I'm Detective James Donner, this is my partner Detective Attkins." Detective Donner tells her, while they flashed their badges, "We really need to speak with you, about a very urgent matter."

"Please, follow me." Cordelia swallows the lump in her throat, then leads them into the living room, her heart pounding heavily in her chest, dreading anything that was about to come forth out of his mouth.

"Miss Chase, there's been a . . . terrible incident . . . Your parents, their chauffeur was forced out at gunpoint. Then the man who did this, posing as the chauffeur apparently took the into the woods outside of town at gun point, then proceeded to . . . I'm sorry Miss Chase, but I'm afraid they were murdered. Quite viciously at that, by some sick jerk."

Cordelia's mind practically shut down, she puts on a could, calm, collected appearance, "When?"

"Last night, someone found them this morning, and we can as soon as their bodies were managed to be identified." The gruff older detective answers this time.

"Do you have any idea who did this?"

"We suspect it's a copycat, of a serial killer whom ran rampant in 1828, in the San Francisco area. One of the most brutal killers of the time. The . . . um . . . well method in which your parents' murders were committed was identical to that of Jonathan Damians. Don't worry though Miss Chase, we'll catch him."

In the back of her mind she cynically laughs at the idea of the Sunnydale police force actually solving this, but it doesn't really register that she even thought this. Nothing does. Cordelia feels her while mind shut down, and she goes into autopilot. Later she doesn't even remember leading the two gentlemen to the door, not uttering a single word.

She closes it behind them, then walks to the stairs. Cordelia bumps into a vase of flowers, but when the priceless vase falls to the floor, shattering, she just keeps going, not even registering the fact that a shard of porcelain had reflected off the marble, then sliced her leg. Into her room, where after she locks the door behind her she curls up at her window, staring unseeingly at the cloudy sky, numb.


~*~


b** School, 5th hour **/b


Everyone was sitting around, just waiting for something to happen so things would basically start.

Buffy and Willow were talking about the math class they had together earlier, Richie was messing around with Buffy's training equipment, and Giles, was being Giles.

Xander bursts through the library doors, carrying the morning's newspaper, "Has anyone read today's newspaper? Or seen the news?"

"Wow, Xander, you were reading the newspaper?" Richie asks amazed, "Isn't that a little advanced for you?" Picking on Xander was a trait he'd picked up from Cordelia, and he really enjoyed it.

"Shut up." He turns to the other three, "Has anyone talked to Cordelia?"

"Nope." Buffy answers walking over, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her yet today." She plucks the newspaper out of his hands, "Why?"

Xander takes back the newspaper and reads aloud from the front page;

IThe mutilated corpses of two of Sunnydale's most prestigious citizens were found in the woods outside of town early this morning. Jonathan and Virginia Chase were returning from the Switzerland vacation, which had kept them out of town for the past three months. They had just landed and were on their way home when an unknown man, who was impersonating as their driver took them to the woods, on the outskirts of town and brutally murdered them. Police refuse to give any statement on whether they have any idea on who committed this heinous crime. The Chases' leave behind their only child, and sole-heir or their vast estate, 16-year-old daughter Cordelia Hope Chase, a junior at Sunnydale High, whom was unavailable for comment.'/I


"Oh shit." Richie mumbles jumping up and grabbing the keys to his new bike, "Giles, tell Coach there was a family emergency for me. Damn it, Cordy's all alone in that damn mansion, of all the mornings for Adam to be out of town . . ." then he was gone.

"Poor Cordelia." Willow bemoans.

"And she hadn't even seen her parents since the beginning of June. You know, I actually feel sorry for her." Xander laments.


~*~



b** Three hours later **/b


The maid had let Richie in and told him that Cordelia had locked herself in her room at seven am that morning and she hadn't been out since. Cordelia also hadn't eaten all day.

Richie pounded on her door every ten minutes for the first hour, begging her to unlock the door. He'd put it down to every 20 minutes, but still no response.

Roseanne had brought Richie a chair to sit in, once it had become obvious that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.



b** Seven am **/b


Roseanne let Duncan, who'd just come from the airport, in.

"Señor Ryan is up waiting on Señora Chase. Such a horrible thing. No?" She tells him leading him to Cordelia's room.

"Shouldn't they be in school?" he asked as he was hit with The Buzz.

"Què? Señor, no one will be expecting her to come in." Then she spoke no more.

Duncan was confused, so say the least, then surprised once more when he found Richie slumped in a chair, obviously asleep.

Roseanne left, and then Duncan shook his protégé awake.

Richie woke with a start, "Oh, Duncan. It's you, man I was so tired I didn't even wake up when my sensors went off."

"Clearly. Now what on earth this going on? The maid muttered something about a horrible thing . . ."

"Oh God, Mac, it's like, really bad. A couple of days ago, Cordelia's parents were on their way home, finally, after not seeing Cordy in like three months. Someone impersonated their driver, then killed them. At least that's what the newspaper said. From what Roseanne said, Cordy locked herself in the bedroom, after the detectives came and gave her the news, completely out of it. Like 24 hours ago. I've been trying to get her to open up the door since I got here yesterday, as soon as I heard, around 10 am." Richie takes a deep breath, "Roseanne also said that Cordelia knocked over an expensive vase, accidentally. When it hit the floor, it shattered, and that Cordy didn't even flinch when apiece of it cut her, or seem to realize that she'd broken anything. She didn't do anything to stop the bleeding from the gash on her leg, courtesy of the glass."

Duncan tries to comprehend what had happened, "Her parents were murdered?"

"Yeah, and it was brutal."

"So have you talked to her?"

"Except for yelling through her locked door to open up, no."

"Alright, why don't you go do whatever it is you do during the day . . . I'll take care of Cordelia, and call your cell phone as soon as I get a response."

Richie sighs, then nods his head, "Alright, I'll tell her friends what's up. And I know Adam will be here, as soon as he hears about what happened, but he's gone on business. He's not due back until Saturday."

"Alright."

Once Richie leaves, Duncan pounds on the door.

"Cordelia? Its Duncan, let me in."

No response.

"Cordelia, if you don't let me in, I'm going to break the door down." He warns her.

Still no response.

"Fine. I'm busting down the door on the count of three, 1 . . . 2 . . . 3!" With that he kicked the door with all his might, not knocking it off the hinges, but opening it.

Duncan cautiously enters the slowly brightening room.

Cordelia sits at her window, just like the day before, starring at nothing.

"Cordelia?" He questions tentatively as he walks toward her.

He squats down in front of her, "Cordelia?" Looking at her glassed over eyes, gently he puts his hand on her shoulder.

Cordelia feels the hand on her shoulder, and slowly 'wakes up', "Duncan."

"Hey." Relieved to see the recognition in her eyes.

Cordelia feels her eyes well up with tears, "They're gone Duncan, they're gone. I never saw them much, but they were my Mom and my Daddy. I hadn't even seen then in three months, now some manic took them away forever." She sobs.

Duncan immediately hugs her.

"I had this bad feeling all week . . . I even had Daddy change my legal guardian to you, just in case, but I never warned him. I never even tried to tell them. God, if I had warned them they would be alive."

"Cordelia, you don't know the that. They might have come anyway. Or probably something else bad would have happened, maybe something worse. Destiny, fate, what ever you want to call it warned you, but you can never know when to trust it and when not to. I know it hurts, and it probably will for a long time. But you can't blame yourself."

"I just want them back . . . or I want the man who killed them to pay."

Duncan can tell that she was out for blood, "Do you know who did it?"

"Well the bonehead detectives said they suspected it was some copy cat of a serial killer . . . what's his name . . . something like Jon Denim or something."

Duncan's blood runs cold, "Do you mean Jonathan Damians?"

Cordelia nodded her head, yawning, for she hadn't slept in over 24 hours.

"Damn, then it wasn't a copy cat. He's an immortal, like us. But don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."

"An immortal?"

"Yeah, and one of the very evil ones . . ."

"Why would he do this? Why would he kill my parents?" She asks in an anguished voice.

"I don't know, yet . . ." He looks at her tired eyes, "You need to get some sleep."

"But I'm not tired, and I want to help you find him." She protested.

"No, you are going to sleep. And I don't want an argument about this. You will change into your night-clothes, eat something, and you will get into bed and go to sleep."

All Cordelia wanted was to make sure who murdered her parents suffers for what he did, but it was very obvious that Duncan wouldn't let her do anything for now.

"I'll bring you up something to eat in a few seconds."

"Fine."



b** 15 minutes later **/b


After making sure that Cordelia ate what he'd brought her, he'd closed her curtains against the bright sun.

As soon as Cordelia's head touched the pillow her exhaustion hit her full force, and she falls into a deep, dreamless sleep quickly.


~*~


Richie arrived at the library, looking exhausted.

Everyone sits up, looking at him expectantly.

"She's not doing well. Cordy locked herself in her room, yesterday. She hadn't eaten since then, or unlocked the door. Trust me, I spent most of the night trying to get her to open the door. If Mac hadn't shown up I'd still be asleep in a chair by her door." He flops down in a chair and rubs his face with his hands, "She's got to be a complete wreak, or in total shock."

"Who are we talking about?" Angel questions, emerging from the book stacks.

"You haven't heard?" Buffy questions, surprised.

"I guess not."

"Two days ago, Cordelia's parents bit the big one, met their maker, went towards the light, lost in the game of life . . ." Xander 'explains'.

Giles cuts the obnoxious teen off, "They were barbarically murdered."

"Any signs that it as something that we need to take care of?" Angel questions, trying to keep his mind off the fact that Cordelia would be in a lot of pain right now.

"No, this time it was just a normal psychotic killer, who killed two very rich people, leaving all their valuables behind." Richie tells them.

"I hope they catch him soon. It's terrifying to think some horrible person who likes to cut up people with long knives is out there." Willow shudders.

"I know. And since he's human . . ." Buffy trails off.

"Which reminds me, in light of these n-new development everyone will be p-pairing up. No more patrolling on your own Buffy. You and Angel will do your round together tonight. Xander, Willow, please just try to stay together, and keep an eye out f-for each other. Everyone remember to be v-very cautious, until this murder has been c-caught."

"Alright Giles." Buffy humors her watcher, she was the slayer for Pete's sake, she was not afraid of some mere human. She kicked demon ass everyday.

Angel nodded his head in agreement, "I'll pick you up at your house after the sun goes down."

"'k, so Giles, got anything for us to do? As much as I hate the research scene, we really need something to do to keep our minds occupied." Buffy admitted.

"God idea Buffy. Xander, you could go through some texts. Willow, you can do some of that research on that infernal machine. Buffy, we'll work on your training. And Angel, I'd completely forgotten, but I have some ancient texts in Gaelic I need you to translate if you would, when you have the chance. They are in my office. I'll go get them. It would really help us out."

"Sure." Angel agreed, following Giles.

Once in the office, Giles oddly closes the door behind them.

[Those of you with sick minds, just stop it! I KNOW what you're thinking, and there is NO way on the Hellmouth I'd write a slasher! That's icky and gross. Not that I have anything against gay people, but I don't like those kind of fan fictions.]

"I know this isn't the most appropriate time, but this, as you know, is the first time we've had a chance to discuss the matter we talked of earlier."

Angel nods his head understanding, "Of course. I did background checks on them. Richie's 27. And orphan, from the wrong part of town. Used to get in a lot of trouble, then he just stopped, when he started working for Duncan MacLeod. He's the one that Richie calls Mac. Adam is 29, very successful, but it's not clear what he does. He doesn't have a record, but strangely he also doesn't have any medical information either, it's as if he's never seen a doctor. Both moved here from Paris, at the same time as Cordelia came back, on the same flight actually."

"Hmm, interesting. What else?"

"Well, from what I saw when they were living together . . ."

"What?" Giles looks up sharply from the books he was putting before Angel.

"Richie and Adam lived with Cordelia from the moment they got here from Paris, until a few days ago, when the two moved into their own mansion, which Adam had purchased, just down the street from Cordelia." Angel tells him

"But how on earth would her parents let her do this?" Giles questions.

"They probably didn't know." Angel admitted, "I was talking with Cordelia, one night when they were out, and she told me she hadn't wanted to be alone in the mansion for two weeks, so they were staying with her. Apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Chase were ok with letting their 16-year-old daughter fending for herself for two weeks." Angel told Giles disapprovingly, "Even with the high mortality rate in Sunnydale. Even the servants were given vacation time, so she would have been completely alone, unprotected, for two weeks if Richie and Adam hadn't stayed in the guestrooms."

Giles stares at Angel, a little shocked at the hostility in the vampires voice, and appalled at the actions of the Chases, "I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, but my God, how self involved were the girl's parents?"

"Cordelia let it slip that they did this a lot, leaving her basically on her own. I don't think she really saw them all that much. The tone of her voice though . . . you could practically see the sadness when she told me how lonely it got there, alone all the time."

"Isn't it strange that the girl the majority of people in this school envy the most, and all want to look and be like, is actually the loneliest. She seems so self-centered, like she doesn't really care too." Giles laments.

"We all have our masks." Angel told him, then he took the books, left the office, and disappeared into the shadows.


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