without spirit or cause

Part 7



Cordy: "This is Angel. Oh, no. I can't do anything fun tonight. I have to count my past sins, then alphabetize them. Oh, by the way, I'm thinking of snapping on Friday."

*

Three Weeks Ago

"Angel. Can you Let me in?"

Nothing.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. Figures Mr. Tortured Vampy has to do that whole 'I'm not here, I'm in La La Depressed Land, don't bother me thing'. Her fingers brushed the doorknob. Giving a shrug, Cordelia tried the knob, and thankfully, the door opened.

"Angel. Where are you?" Cordelia peered into the darkness of his room, the only light coming from the opened window. Curtains flapping lazily in the cool night breeze, they moved aside ever so slightly, light falling upon a black pant leg for a mere second, then gone.

"Didn't you know that reading in the dark can seriously mess up your eyes?"

"Cordelia."

His voice startled her a bit, but by now, she was getting used to his sudden actions or words. Cordy walked over to the chair he was sitting in, just near the window.

"Yum. O Pos. Come on. I'm not having you waste away, all right? Besides, I'm not in the mood to have you bite me when you're starving," She murmured, hand shooting out rather jerkily, a mug filled with blood for him.

"Thanks, Corde-"

"Cordy. Stop being forgetful. What's the new reason for brooding? I mean, what's - on your mind?"

Angel accepted the mug, putting it down on the floor to his left. He then picked up his book, starting to read again.

"Nuh uh. Don't even try." She pulled the book from his hands, glanced at the cover. "Resurrections" She trailed off. "Angel, you can't-"

"I'm not going to. I just felt like reading that book. A feeling," Angel replied, slumping in his chair. Cordy was referring to Buffy's death, no doubt.

"Sure. 'A feeling'."

"No. She - she sacrificed herself for her sister and friends For all of us. I'm not going to go change that. What's done is done." He looked at his hands, then slumped forward, elbows resting on his knees. "I.. I can't keep thinking about it."

Cordy looked at him, surprised. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, then knelt down, hands resting on his knees. "I know, Angel. I just I wish you could stop hurting."

"Corde- Cordy. Can I get a favor?" Angel asked, looking up at her, a faint smile.

"What is it?"

"Don't leave. I just..I couldn't handle it if someone else left me," He trailed off, looking down. "If I lost youI don't know what I'd do with myself. I'd be lost. Or worse offdead. You're my best friend. I don't want to lose another one, like Doyle That's part of the feeling. The calm before the storm. "

Cordy smiled, blinking her eyes shut to keep the tears inside. "I won't leave you, Angel. I'll be here for you."

Angel looked up again, brushed her cheek with his hand. In a low voice, he said, "Why are you crying?"

"Nothing. I'll never leave." Cordy whispered, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She leaned her head against Angel's knee, watching her tears stain his black pants. She kept crying silently, but not of sadness, but joy. Because Angel wouldn't leave her. Not to die. Not for anyone to come kill her.

Angel was her best friend...

Her friend.

He couldn't let anything happen to her.

Cordy was faintly aware of Angel stroking her hair, holding her shoulders. He rocked back and forth, murmuring, "It's going to be all right, Cordy. Let's just stick together."

Forever, Angel added silently, but dared not say a word.


Angel: "I just got her back..."

*

The Present

Angel leaped backwards, falling rather clumsily to the ground. He had felt the axe blade tear through the air, nearly millimeters from lodging itself into his skull. Looking up, Angel's eyes were wide.

"Don't!"

"Works every time." Gunn hefted the axe onto his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at Angel. "Threaten 'em a little, and they sing like a canary."

"We were waiting?" Wesley folded his arms across his chest. "My friend here doesn't have patience for the Kaligar race. I don't either."

Fred stood off to the side, looking at the three of them.

Angel almost laughed. If the situation wasn't so bleak and weird, he would've. But now was clearly not the time.

"Look. I don't really have time to explain this, but you guys have to trust me-"

"Why should we?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "I'm Angel, all right?"

The three stood quiet for a moment.

"How should I believe you? Angel would never-"

"Okay, Wes. You used to be Buffy's Watcher in Sunnydale. You had this weird crush on Cordelia, which I guess faded since she wasn't all that into kissing you back when she first got her visions. You uh - You got shot a few months ago, but before that - way before - remember my car got stolen, and I had to wear that stupid ladies helmet when we went on your motorcycle? And you've had sex with a bleached blonde before" Angel stopped. "Do you want me to go on?"

"Well, I uh-" Wesley faltered. "I see your point."

"Good work, Wes. Real smooth," Gunn quipped.

"Hi, Angel. What happened to ya?" Fred finally spoke, tapping her fingernails on the bars.

"Let's work on getting me out of this cage first, all right? They knocked me out, took Cordy away, and threw me in here." Angel took a step back while Gunn broke the lock with his axe.

"I needed a disguise. One of the Kaligars - A sort of good one- gave me a bracelet that could let me change I guess they must've taken that bracelet when I was knocked out," Angel finished, stepping out of the cage. He noticing the weird looks given in his direction, and that feeling of being uncomfortable came again.

"We find the bracelet, you get normal," Fred pointed out.

"And we get Cordy. I saw her. She's alive."

"Angel I'm... I'm sorry I doubted you." Wesley started put a hand on Angel's shoulder, but just made Angel flinch instead.

"It's all right. We have to find Cordelia," he reminded them. He glanced to the gasoline containers they were carrying, realizing their idea. And he knew how to expand it. "Come on. I have a plan."

With that, Angel moved to the back door, faintly aware of the sudden leadership role he had taken, the role he was used to play. Wes, Gunn, and Fred tagged along behind, carrying the gasoline, but clueless as to what Angel was exactly planning.

"Angel.. Can you It's the-"

"Tail, tail..."


Cordelia flailed, then hit the ground roughly, head smacking the concrete. She looked up at the demons who captured her again, dragging her to the so called throne room. The room looked like a remodeled gym, it's height over thirty feet, and length and width twice that. Higher up, a catwalk ran along the walls, partially obscured in the shadows above.

In the center of the room, there seemed to be an altar, constructed from wood and metal. On the altar stood the same demon who initiated her 'death', the leader.

"Is she ready yet? The sacrifice must commence," it said, pointing at her.

"What's up with all the sacrifice around here? Don't you guys ever get tired of it?" Cordy asked, getting no replies. "Figures. Big zero on the humor scale."

Now, where did they take Angel?

She stood up, under watch of the nearby guards. Cordelia brushed herself off, then stopped, raising a hand to her head. Not now

Flash! A sudden rush of images pumped into Cordy's brain, along with a shock of pain and agony that slammed into her mind, making her collapse from the vision. Blearily sitting up, she watching the images flash before her eyes, telling her of what was to come.

Another flash. Angel was there- Normal Angel, on the altar They were holding him back, and even though he struggled, he couldn't break free. Then, Cordy saw one demon get ready to lodge a shaft of wood into his heart.

"Angel!" Cordelia raised her hands up to cover her eyes. No! When am I going to wake up from this nightmare?

"Bring him in. I want her to see this."

Cordelia removed her hands away from her eyes. She watched as they dragged a struggling and kicking Angel into the room. The normal one, not the one who looked like a demon, but still had those lovely eyes.

"Hey! What's the deal! Come on and let me go already! You know, when we planned this, it wasn't supposed to happen this way- Watch the hair!"

"Angel..! You can't! Oh GodAngel! Watch out! They're gonna" Cordy felt a guard behind her give a rough shove to her back.

"C-Cordelia? That's y- Get the HELL off!" Angel shoved the guards away from him, but they just grabbed him harder.

Meanwhile, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred were crouched above on the catwalk, looking down at the scene before them.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Fred whispered, looking over at Wesley.

"It has to. Otherwise, this will be the shortest payback of all time. We have to find that bracelet, or another one like it," Wesley muttered, crawling to his right. He looked down at the various Kaligars lined up, noticing more and more coming into the room, filling it. So far, there was over fifty of them, and counting.

"Down there! Right below us." Gunn pointed at a guard demon standing below the catwalk, near a couple of dusty crates. The demon wore a couple of bracelets around it's wrists, a rigid stance which belonged to someone in the military.

"But how can we-" Fred stared as a tail lashed out from the shadows, giving a hard blow to the back of the demon's head. The guard crumpled, it's body dragged into the shadows.

"There's one problem solved. Now it's our turn." Wesley nodded to the other two, and they began dragging their containers of gasoline along with them, the next step in the plan.


"You can't.Let me go We're all friends here"

"Angel Please Don't hurtTake me.."

The voices were faint, and far from his place in the back of the large room, which once upon a time was home to the various moving trucks of the company. He watched them bring the yelling vampire up on the altar, watched the young girl scream and struggle against those who held her back.

Watched them raise the piece of wood over the vampire's chest.

He could hear her scream though. Loud and clear, piercing and heartbreaking.

He slipped the bracelet on, the weird and sharp tingling feeling washing over him, so much similar to his other transformation. Yet this was different, and better.

"Now!" He shouted, also loud and clear.


Wesley uncapped the gasoline, shaking the liquid out onto the ground below, onto the congregation of Kaligar demons. Fred and Gunn followed his lead, and soon the containers of gasoline were empty, all the liquid poured out, falling like rain.

Gunn fished out a match from his pocket, lighting it. He threw it below, smiling in satisfaction as one demon convulsed, body covered in flames. The flames licked out, burning everything in contact, and it wasn't long before the flames grew, jumping from burning demon body to another demon. Soon, almost half of the hundred demons there were on fire.

"Coo'," Gunn whispered in awe. Pretty flammable demons. Comes in handy.

Of course, the fire reached out towards the walls, the dusty crates and boxes of the room, leaving blackened soot and crumpled wooden splinters in their wake.

"About time," Angel shouted, slamming his fists into the guards holding him. "You humans are so slow."

He leaped off the altar, running over to Cordelia. She punched the guard right next to her in the face, smiling in satisfaction. "That's for shoving me!"

Cordelia turned to Angel, staring in surprise when just a second ago, he was.. well, Angel, and now, just a demon cracking the skull of another one with his fist.

Why is this happening to me? Why did I even bother taking this job?

Because it was meant to be, a voice reminded her inside. Cordy didn't know whether it was her conscience, or just too much bad Chinese food, because at the moment, the place was on fire.

"Cordelia?!"

"Eww!" Cordy jumped to the side while a burning Kaligar demon fell right near her, flesh crackled and blackened. She looked upwards for the sound of the voice, eyes darting about. It was hard to lock onto the source, due to all the screaming and shouts of pain around her.

"See? I knew she was alive!" Wesley shouted, poking Gunn's shoulder.

"Riiight. Hey girl! Let's skip the hellos, and get out of here before we get crispy!" Gunn yelled to Cordelia, after giving a 'You are such a dolt' look to Wesley.

"OhYou guys! Where is Angel- Ahh!" Cordy yelped, getting shoved from the side. She fell on her back, painfully hitting a shard of metal behind her. Far away, Fred shouted "Hi!"

Cordy shook her head, looking up to the catwalk. Gunn, Wesley, and Fred were already making their way downstairs, and to the outside.

Meanwhile, the rafters had caught on fire, occasionally sending chunks of wood and concrete showering down. However, that wasn't important. Sure, the place would surely burn down by daybreak, but right now

There he was. Angel, standing over her, wrestling a singed demon. Face contorted by the demon within, Angel roared, snapping the demon's neck with a twist. He shoved the limp body into another demon, growling while they fell to the floor.

"Angel?! Is that, really you? Or uhclone you? Why can't I get two Angels at another time and place?!" Cordy shouted, getting up.

"It's - me!" Angel somewhat gleefully cracked two demons heads against each other like something from the Three Stooges.

"Over there! That's the main evil - guy. Demon. Whatever," She pointed, her other hand gingerly touching the cut on her back.

Angel looked to her, then in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, the leader demon still stood on that pedestal, barking orders. Which absolutely made no sense, since most of the other demons were already busy with the whole screaming in pain, getting burned alive thing.

"Almost missed the fun, didn't I?" The same demon Cordy saw on the platform moved to Angel, holding a sword. He held a wound on his side, dark black blood seeping between his fingers.

"Think I can borrow that?" Angel asked, not waiting for an answer. He grabbed the sword, turning to the direction of the lead demon. Walking to the leader, he said over his shoulder, "I have some business to attend to."

"Angel. Let's go!" Cordy started to walk after him. The bleeding demon stopped her, grabbing her arm with its free hand.

"Some other time, doll! This place is going down!"

"But I-"

"Come on!" The demon dragged Cordy along with it, to the outside of the warehouse, just as something exploded behind them.


"Cordy!"

Cordy pushed away from the demon, staring at the burning warehouse. The busted door was already turned to cinders, and high above, flames poked out through some of the dusty and shattered windows. The fire reached high into the sky, the upcoming sunrise mingling with the orange glow of the burning building. In the distance, she heard sirens.

Before she knew what hit her, Gunn ran to her, hugging her tightly.

"You're alive!"

"Move over!" Wesley's voice.

Gunn pulled away, then Wesley took his place, practically squeezing the life out of her.

"We thought you were dead!" Wesley said, continuing with the life squeezing.

"Need - to breathe!" Cordy gasped, pushing Wesley away.

"Cordelia!"

"Fred!"

Fred hugged Cordy, a smile on her bright face. "I'm happy you're okayYou are okay, right?"

Like a little sister, Cordelia thought. She nodded, then her brow furrowed. "Where'sDidn't Angel come out by now?"

"I think he's still in there," the demon who dragged Cordy out spoke up. "Can I go now? I did my share of the bargain. And lemme tell you, being a vampire is no fun whatsoever."

"You...can go. I don't want to catch you around here ever again. Including this city. We'll be watching you," Wesley pointed out, his eyes on the burning building.

"Yeah, yeah. If the poor bastard makes it out, tell him Derox said g'bye," the demon mumbled. Then it scampered off, limping a little.

"He should've come out by now," Gunn said. The remaining four stood outside the building, looking up. Watching. Waiting.

Hoping.

"He can't do this to me now. We made a promise God, we made a promise" Cordelia chewed her lip, hoping it would help her from crying. It didn't.

Gunn put an arm around her shoulder. "I bet he's fine."

"YeahHe has t'be," Fred added. She stood near Wesley, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

A eye for an eye. A life for a life? Was this the big plan? Did the Powers That Be send me to Angelbut knew that in the end, he wouldn't shanshu? That he'd die, and I'dwhat? Take his place? I'm not a leader. Only if my reign as the Queen of Sunnydale counted.

Still getting those visions. For who? Wesley? Gunn? They were meant for Angel. And if he'snot around to take them

I couldn't stand to see the hurt look on your face when Buffy died. I made a promise, Angel. We made a promise that we wouldn't leave each other. Did you know that I meant it in a different way?

Did you know that I figured out what was wrong with me, and you? That we weren't together?

Before you died, did you know that I loved you?