Several long minutes went by and he didn't move. Cordelia had full expected him to chuck the slab and they would both run like hell to the nearest exit. Yet he wasn't moving. A slow rivulet of fear trickled into her heart, goaded by the growing silence.

'Of course he doesn't have a heart. He's a bloody vampire!' she reassured herself at the absence of his heartbeat.

Her own heart was pounding loud enough for the both of them. Still, the lack of activity from her usually always-energetic friend irked her more than a little.

"Angel?" she whispered out softly in the dark to him.

Even turning her head to look at him was too laborious. Seconds dropped away and her worry multiplied. With all the strength she could muster she pushed herself up onto her hands and looked at the vampire lying beside her. What she saw frightened her almost more than the silence.

He lay limp, like a ragdoll. His black leather jacket was smudged with dust from the cement, as was his hair. The normally pale tone in his skin had cone nearly white, and his head moved unconsciously from side to side - his eyelids fluttering.

"Angel!" she cried out.

One arm collapsed under her. She lay half on top of him, supported by one arm and his broad chest. A weaving band of moonlight fluttered down of the gap in the ceiling and danced across his rugged face. With visible effort he forced his eyes to open and he stared up at her.

"Cordy." he murmured a soft smile played across his blanch lips.

It sent pains to her heart to see him in such a helpless state.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, her voice choked with concern. "Why are you so weak?"

Angel was caught at this question. He couldn't very well tell her he searched with great passionate intensity to find her could he? It would draw scandalous gossip from the others if they ever found out.

'Its true.' He admitted to himself awkwardly. 'I wouldn't have searched so hard for anyone but her.'

"I. I didn't have anything to eat today." He stuttered out.

That was mostly true. In his rush to right the wrongs of the world, he hadn't had any blood and it was surely taking its toll. Cordelia looked down on him as a mother might a forgetful young boy. He weakly chuckled despite their grave situation.

"Well, this is a tricky little predicament we've landed ourselves into isn't it Angel?" she said with a lightness that amused him.

She shut her eyes for a moment in contemplation. He took that time to study her. She was a dark angel of seduction and beauty. Her lips were black rose petals, soft and sultry. Long midnight eyelashes hid velvet pools of hazel enchantment. Her hair, normally straight with a slight wave, were ringlet curls of pure silk spilling over her creamy milk-white skin.

His description, though deadly accurate, stunned him immensely. This was Cordelia Chase, his business partner and best friend, and not an ex-lover like Buffy. Such thoughts were not permitted about her, no matter how hauntingly beautiful she looked.

'What the hell am I thinking?'

Even as he scolded himself, mental images overrode his brain. Bad mental images. Of Cordelia. Angel squeezed his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to stop the onslaught of fantasies, but nothing worked. The fire in her eyes called out to him, the innocence in her spirit exciting him.

"Drink from me."

The almost husky tone in her voice nearly drove him crazy. The words, like a siren's call at sea, tempted him dangerously. Only when he stared up at her did the realization sink in.

She wasn't kidding.

His eyes grew wide with surprise and shock.



'What the.'

"Cordy, no." Instantly, he scoffed the idea.

"Drink from her? Is she crazy?'

Though the thought of sinking his teeth into that tender throat of hers was beyond paradise.

'No!'

"Angel you have no strength!" she protested loudly. He just shook his head.

"Neither do you." He countered. Though she tried to prove him wrong, the weariness in her eyes betrayed her.

With an exasperated sigh she leaned her forehead against his chest for a moment to regain her bearings.

'Somehow I've got to make him understand!'

When her head snapped up again, there was a passionate determination that nearly made him cringe. "Listen Angel," she told him firmly. "If you don't get blood and regain your strength, neither of us wil make it out of here."

Though he hated profusely to admit it, her arguments were correct.

"I could kill you." He said softly, looking up at her delicate face.

"I don't care." She answered instantly.

The look of peace in her eyes told him everything. She hoped for the best, but if the time came, she was willing to die to save him.

Gently, so as not to frighten her, he sat up and lay her down. With one hand supporting her head and the other on her back, he hovered above her for a moment.

'Do it!' she urged him silently.

His gaze held hers for several seconds, though it passed like eternity. She understood what she had to do and he, though not willingly, accepted it. One question still haunted him though.

'What if I can't make myself stop?'

With pain-staking slowness he brought his head down to her neck. The rapid fluttering of her heart mixed with the smell of fear unleashed a carnal desire unlike anything he'd experienced. Instantly his face morphed into that of a vampire. Fangs bared, he traced the hollow of her throat with his tongue, tasting the salty sweetness of her skin. With one quick motion he took her, the razor points of his teeth sinking into her throat.

(A/N = next part up! Thanks all of you for reviewing! I'd thank each of you individually here for reviewing, but that takes up waaaaaaayyyy too much so I'll just email yall. Sound good? Okay so toodles! Thanks again! P.s. did anyone else see that thing in the "New Sunday Night WB" where they had adds for all the new season? Angel kissed Cordy! He did! Ahhh! Okay, buyerz)