without spirit or cause
Part 6
The guard demon looked at the new arrival with impatience. "Fine. Looks like I'll be on duty. Take her to the preparation room."
"All right."
With that, the guard demon slipped into a side corridor, and was gone. Relieved of taking care of me. Wonder why Cordy looked after him, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth, then turned to the new Kaligar, who kept staring at her strangely.
"What? Never seen a human before?" Cordy snapped, narrowing her eyes. Where the heck is he?
"Yes - uh, no. I mean" His voice faltered. "Come on."
"Great. More pushing me around. How fun." Cordy muttered, starting to go down the passage. The demon followed along, towering over her.
"I'm not going to hurt you. You've been through enough," it said in a low voice.
"OhThanks? Not that it's going to make up for your family's big Cordy send off." Her tone was bitter. After being captured, the demons rejoiced in letting her know that her friends- her family- thought she was dead. She had cried, but harshly said that they wouldn't fall for it, that Angel and the rest would figure it out.
Two days passed. Nothing.
They really think I'm dead, she eventually thought, but was too aware of the torturing and pain the demons were giving to her to debate the issue.
Except for Angel. That's why he's here. He came to save me.
And ended up getting captured.
They continued walking in silence. How long is this hallway, anyway? Feels like a mile. Cordy started to move closer to the wall, since the passage started to slope downwards, evidence that they were moving farther underground. So no one can hear you scream.
"So this Angel? Do you know him?"
"Why do you care?" Cordy asked.
"Just - curious," He replied, coughing. In a low voice he added, "Since he came unannounced, I thought he was going to get you - uh, out.. or something."
She looked down at the ground. "Angel. What is there to say about a guy like him? Major hot, tends to wear black a lot, great hair but no people skills?" After laughing a bit lamely, she added, "Wow. Very good description of him."
"You - you think he's cu- good looking?" The demon tried to look nonchalant. "Does he know how you feel about him?"
"No! Of course not! I can't tell him that. 'Hi, Angel. I think this can be something more. Maybe it can work. Oh, and the whole used-to-be-an-evil-vamp thing doesn't really matter, because I love you still the same?' I can't say that to him."
"You can try. Since he cares enough to risk his life - uh, unlife, for you. You should've let him know how you feel a long while ago. Maybe things could've been different. Did you ever think he felt the same way about you?"
"I don't think he thinks about me like tha-" She stopped talking and walking, turning around to look at the demon. "What is this? A new kind of torture? Twenty Questions? Or some kind of pre-death guilt trip?" She poked the demon's chest with her finger, narrowing her eyes at him.
Cordelia took a good look at the demon, noticing its eyes weren't blue like the rest of them, but brown.
"You could've told me how you felt about me" The demon trailed off, voice cracking, slouching. Sulking.
Brooding.
"What-?" She stopped, staring at him. Cordy was merely a few inches away from him now, and she got a good look at him. Definitely looked an escapee from the jurassic- or whatever- period.
But those eyes were so familiar.
Tentatively, she raised a hand to the demon's face, brushing its cheek with her hand. Cordelia looked into his eyes, and at that moment, she knew. She could just - feel it. Some innate thing, psychic or whatever it was, but it was unmistakable.
"Angel?"
"Surprise."
"Hard to kill. Some believe they're descendants from the original dinosaurs, perhaps a mixed demon and reptile breed."
"Shh. This ain't the time for no history lesson," Gunn whispered harshly, peering from his spot in the alley. The three were hiding out in the alley, watching a group of the demons who were standing outside the warehouse, talking.
Wesley had another one of those hurt looks. "Well, I'm merely trying to pass on the information that I know of this particular demons. If you don't want to know how to kill them, then go ahead and wait until they suck out your viscera!" he huffed.
Gunn looked over at Fred. "What the heck is viscera?"
"Um I think it's your insides," she supplied, perky.
"Wonderful."
"Beheading, fire, mercuryA cursed sword Basic ways to kill them," Wesley continued.
"We don't have any of those things. Except for beheading" Fred trailed off, giving a hopeless look at her small stake.
"Hey. Look over there." Gunn nodded towards the gas station across the street. Most importantly, he pointed to the sign reading the gas prices. "You think they're open at this time of night?"
"It's really you?"
He nodded. "It's me."
"Oh."
Silence.
Then she smacked him.
"Oww! What was that for?"
"You could've told me it was you! Here I am, pouring my heart out, wishing for you to come save me, wondering if they - if they dusted you and there you are! You scared me half to death, you You dork!"
Angel looked uncomfortable again. "I'm..sorry."
Even when he wasn't exactly looking like- well, Angel- he still had one powerful weapon: that puppy dog look. Not again!
"Oh What am I doing? You came to save me. You remembered me." Cordy practically leaped forward and hugged him, eyes shut. The absence of his cool, and soft touch, of his aftershave, even the way he felt that didn't matter. He was still Angel.
And he's mine.
Angel stared in disbelief. After all these long weeks, months even, of keeping those feelings to himself Feelings which should've been strictly platonic, but became something more Now here she was. Hugging him, right after admitting she felt the same way, and what happened? He wasn't even his normal self.
Sometimes it sucked to be a super hero.
Even though he just could've easily gone back to normal, Angel decided to maintain this appearance for a while, since the disguise could be handy in trying to 'blend in', and infiltrate the place.
And seriously murder that bastard who hurt my Cordelia.
"I'll never forget you," he murmured. "Never."
"I waited for youAnd here you are.." She sniffed. He gently pushed her away, getting a confused look from his seer.
"Later." Before she could protest, he nodded towards himself. "You know. When I'm"
"How did you..?" She pointed at him.
"Just call me Bond. Angel Bond." She's staringnot a good thing. "I needed a disguise to get in. And look at the nifty bauble a turncoat gave me." Angel pointed to the bracelet hanging around his right wrist. "It lets you change into whatever you want and back to normal, as long as you're wearing it."
"So that's probably what they used to - fake everything." Cordy's brow furrowed. "Angel It wasn't-"
"I know. I figured it out. Right now" He looked left and right, then back to her. "Let's just try to find the leader."
"Don't you think we should try to - get out of here instead?"
Angel's eyes narrowed. "I'm not running from them. Not after what they did to you."
"Angel, you can't. There's like two hundred of 'em. It's suicide."
"I don't care. I'm not letting them get away with-"
Cordy touched his face again, making him flinch. "If you go rush in, General Custard, you might as well kiss that 'later' goodbye. I'm not going to let you die without seeing you one last time."
"Cordelia"
There it was. The patented no nonsense, 'argue-with-me-and-you-won't-live-to-tell-about-it' Cordelia 'Queen C' Chase, look. And if looks could kill
"Fine," He sighed. "Let's get out of here."
"My hero," Cordy said, smiling appreciatively at him. Again, Angel felt weird, but he just grabbed her elbow, pulling her close to him while they walked back up the corridor, up from underground.
"Angel..! Could you cut that out!"
"What?"
"It's - It's your uh tail. It keeps making me trip."
"I really need to go on a vacation."
"You and me both." Angel stepped aside while Cordy moved in front of him. "Almost being killed, getting tortured, guys turning into ..thingsThanks for hiring me," she drawled.
"No problem."
"Now when we get back, I have to ask Wesley about compensation 'cause y'know, there's no insuran-"
"Shh! I hear someone coming. Follow my lead."
Without even managing a blink of an eye, Cordy's hand was grabbed roughly by Angel, who proceeded to run down an adjacent passage.
"That's your great plan?! Did you happen to bring a map with you?!" Cordy whispered harshly, jostled by Angel's quick running.
"Next time it's a life or death situation, you be the planner!" Angel growled.
"I think that bracelet is affecting your judgment," she snapped.
"You there!"
Angel turned around, still holding Cordy close to him. The saw a few Kaligars behind them, but the exact number was hard to tell due to the dim light. And because the senses of this body were different than his normal vampire senses.
"Stop! The sacrifice must be delivered!"
"Sacrifice my ass!" Cordy stuck her tongue out. "Let me at them!"
Angel held her back. "Some other time, Cordy!"
He looked around frantically, then pulled her into another passage. The whole underground complex no longer seemed passable. It was a maze. Unfortunately, Angel lost his way. He couldn't smell the outside alley, where he and Cordelia should be. Safe and secure. She would be in his arms, and he would comfort her, telling her that he'd never leave her, that he'd protect her.
Instead of being chased by some nasty demons and being one himself.
"Come on Cordelia." Angel turned around, noticed the absence of her hand against his own. "Cordelia?!"
"Traitor!"
Angel turned around, seeing a flash of something ugly, then the flat of a short sword, before everything went black.
"Sometimes I wonder why we made you the leader. 'Cause it could've been - 'Gunn Investigations'. You know, something cool like that," Gunn muttered, lugging along four gallons of gasoline. His arms arched from the weight, but the sooner they finished this, the better.
"Naturally, I fit the leadership role just fine," Wesley preened. Then he started going on about his job as a Watcher, and how he helped Angel figure out lots of cases - even solve them himself.
Gunn figured Wesley might've been lying about a few things. Sure, he and Fred were new, so they couldn't know. But, he doubted Wesley saved Angel and Cordy from a twenty foot tall demon, then graciously accepted Angel and Cordelia's many apologies and groveling afterwards.
"Yes, that was the day. Ah, I've been such a worthwhile asset to this group"
"I think that helmet was too tight on his headCut off the flow of oxygen to the brain." Fred whispered to Gunn, lugging along three gasoline containers.
"I hear ya."
"You two! Quiet! They'll know we're coming."
Gunn and Fred looked at each other, then back to Wesley. They were right outside the warehouse, and the entrance had been boarded up, but someone had recently smashed through it.
"Really With all that talking, they're bound to know about us," Wesley sighed, wincing from his own load of four gasoline containers. With Gunn and Fred muttering under their breaths behind him, Wesley went into the building. He stopped once inside, putting the containers on the floor. Hearing something faint, Wesley fished his flashlight out of his pocket, letting its light flicker in the darkness.
"That's a good one. 'Don't talk, or they'll figure us out. However, if I use my flashlight, waving it around they can't possibly tell it's us!" Gunn snapped, doing his own version of Wesley's accent.
"Quiet." Wesley shined the flashlight around, looking at the desolate warehouse. Up front, there was the office area where people would make requests for moving, and behind the back door was probably the loading area, for trucks and so on. Wesley didn't really know about these sorts of things, so he only took a wild guess.
"Look! Over there!" Fred pointed to the back wall, and the crude metal cage constructed there. She and Gunn walked over to it, Wesley a bit behind, but carrying his own load of gasoline.
The cage went from the floor to the ceiling, which was about twelve feet up. Looking like it belonged in a old fashioned jail, it stood out in the room. Besides that, the thing locked up inside stood out even more.
"Is that That's one of those.. Kali-whatevers," Fred whispered, fingers brushing gently against the bars. "I think it's asleep."
"Nobody go and wake that thing up, all right? I don't want it getting' loose," Gunn said, keeping a safe distance.
"Maybe we can get some information from it. As to where Cordelia is, and even Angel's whereabouts," Wesley suggested. Gunn nodded, while Fred kept staring at the Kaligar lying on the floor.
"Or we could just kill the thing," Gunn replied.
"That, too," Fred said.
"Mmm" Angel's eyes fluttered open. What's..? He blinked a few times, noticing his vision was blurry from that blow to the head. First things first. "Cordelia?"
They took her away from me. Again.
"Cordelia!" Angel choked out, before his head lifted to peer at the three blurry faces above him.
"He's awake. What're we gonna do?"
"I say we kill him."
"Don't you suppose that track of thinking will lead us nowhere?"
Angel painfully managed to stand up, shaking his head. Must've been a harder hit than I thought.
"If he gets out, he's gonna go tell all his siblings about the new dinner in town. And that's us."
Angel raised a hand to his head, wondering why everything was still blurry. They must've drugged meOr, I'm just using that as an excuse for their kicking of my ass. He looked at his hand, noticing he was still in demon form.
The bracelet was gone.
"NoNo.. Cordelia Cordelia!" Angel roared, slamming his hands against the bars. He leaned on them for support for a moment, when his vision cleared. Gunn, Wesley, and Fred were staring at him.
"I have toget out. I have to get to CordeliaYou guys Let me out."
"We're the ones giving orders here," Wesley replied, a strict tone. He leveled his sword, ready to use it if necessary.
"I don't have time for this."
"We don't have time for demons who waste our time," Gunn said, then made a face. "You know what I mean!"
Angel slammed against the bars once more, watched them vibrate, oblivious to his actions. "I can explain everything. Just let me out, all right?"
"Save who?" There was an edge to Wesley's voice.
"It's Cordy. She's - I need to see her."
"And let her die? I think not." Wesley nodded to Gunn. "Kill him."
Gunn lifted his axe, bringing it down.
And in that split second, two words came to Angel's mind.
How ironic.
