Author: Karen
Title: Lockdown
Timeline: Directly after Angel fires the Batpack in Season 2.
Disclaimer: Sadly not mine but willing to submit a reasonable offer for
the use of Lindsey and the boys at the Hypernion.
Feedback: Much appreciated as it's my first fic to be submitted for
general consumption and I'm nervous!
Dedication: To Chrissy for being so nice and helping out a complete
stranger and to Sunny(?) for her encouraging comments and giving me my
first ever feedback.
Rating: Have no idea as I am new to this but around a film 12/15 at the mo
and progressing to an 18 later. (God and Cordy and Lindsey willing)
Archive: If you want it all you have to do is ask!
Written in response to a challenge on the fan page to have Lindsey and one of the white hats trapped in Wolfram and Hart for the night.
Chapter 3.
One hour, two vamps and a small demon with teeth as long as its head later and the pair were finding it increasingly difficult to find anything humorous and Cordelia's one of a kind sweater was now in two distinct pieces. She held the ragged pieces of material in her hands and was torn between relief she'd worn a vest top underneath and misery that yet another item of her wardrobe wasn't good enough for dusters anymore. Lindsey was torn between sheer blind panic at the sheer numbers of the opposition they faced to get out of the building and pity at the look of sadness on Cordelia's face. On reflection he was leaning more towards blind panic.
"What are we going to do?"
"Mmm?"
"Cordelia what are we going to do?"
Cordelia held up the two pieces of the sweater and squinted dubiously
"Do you think I could get this repaired?"
She held the sweater to the light
"I mean it looks like a clean break right?"
Lindsey's mouth dropped open and he made a faint clucking noise in the back of his throat. Cordy frowned up at him from where she was seated on the floor.
"Lindsey what's wrong?"
He took a deep breath and made an effort to control his temper
"Cordelia I realise you have a real code ten clothing crisis going on at the moment but you could you please focus on the problem in hand?"
Cordy manfully struggled to keep a straight face at his choice of words and fixed an expression of bright interest on her face as he continued
"We need to think of something. I can't go on like this all night."
Cordy waved her hand dismissively one eye back on her ruined sweater
"Pfft. We've got a few minutes grace. The bad guys are down four men and they think they have two Slayers on the loose in the building. Trust me things will be a lot more sedate from now on."
Lindsey dragged his hands through his hair in frustration
"How can you be so sure?"
"Hello? Do pretty much this whole thing every night of my life remember?"
She finally gave up on the material and shoved it in the bag beside her on the floor
"I let that cowboy Gorch run for one reason and one reason only, he thinks I'm a Slayer and he thinks Buffy is here with me."
She gave a smug grin
"Once he changed his trousers, figuratively speaking, he would have given the four one one to his demon commando buddies and they would have suddenly become a lot more careful about peeking into dark rooms. If the leader has any sense he'll have the telepaths focusing on trying to locate any supernatural aura's that don't belong to their guys so that takes the pressure of us a little."
She came to feet in one lithe movement and casually hooked the bag over her head once again
"Our priority is finding a safe way out of here and taking out as many of the psychics as we can."
She turned and began to inch her way silently down the stairwell they had taken refuge in not bothering to see if Lindsey followed her.
He did but with increasingly bad grace. He was running mainly on adrenalin, fear and anger at the moment and the ease that Cordelia had taken on the role of commander bothered him considerably. He was at least eight years her senior and had a lot more experience of giving orders and planning strategies and, not to put too fine a point on it, she was a girl. A confident and amazingly sexy girl, albeit, but a girl nonetheless.
Cordy for her part was beginning to wonder if Lindsey had ever seen a demon outside of the controlled and well-protected offices of Wolfram and Hart. When she had taken the head off the vamp that was with Gorch she had not given any thought to his unwillingness to attack but when they had run into their next opponent with the amazingly long teeth he had done everything but scream and wet his expensive pants. Admittedly hacking something's tooth off and then stabbing it repeatedly with it until it died wasn't the most pleasant way to spend five minutes out of your life but she expected a little more help than the lawyer watching the corridors to make sure they weren't caught by surprise. She sneaked a look back over her shoulder and saw his face creased in a dark scowl of concentration and then shook her head in amazement as she recalled the details of the fight that had seen the demise of her favourite green sweater.
'Cordelia watch out!'
Cordy turned and saw the demon right before it crashed into her taking her to the floor. She twisted her head to the side to avoid the wildly gnashing teeth and concentrated on putting everything she had into the knee that she brought sharply up between the thing's legs. She grinned as it gave a pained woof of surprise and crashed sideways leaving her clear to scramble clear and give it a quick kick to the ribs on the way up.
'Don't seem to matter what dimension they come from or how they get made, the ball basher gets 'em every time!'
Cordy's triumphant exclamation put Lindsey's teeth on edge and he found himself fighting down a crimson tide of rage at the casual way she pushed her hair back. He was about to make a comment when the young girl suddenly dropped like a sack of coal and disappeared under the body of the small stocky demon. He backed away in horror as Cordelia yelled out and then turned to the bag that had fallen on the floor and pulled out the alcohol soaked rags and a lighter. Cordelia's face when she managed to roll on top of the demon managed to state in no uncertain terms what she thought of that plan and then just in case Lindsey was in any doubt the shrill 'Are you nuts?!' managed to clear things up nicely.
He stood staring at the at the two rolling on the floor but it was only when Cordelia shrieked again that he really began to see what was going on in front of his face. To his relief she didn't appear to be injured but her green sweater hung in two separate halves from her shoulders and her face for the first time was flushed with sheer fury.
'You son of a bitch!'
Cordelia stared down at her sweater and then her hands rose in a double fist to smash under the creature's jaw and into its throat. As its hands rose in a reflex action she sprang to her feet and then jumping into the air brought her knees under her and smashed into the thing's belly the air left in a rush and it made some interesting wheezing noises. Cordy looked up at Lindsey standing still grasping the useless equipment he had snatched from the bag and rolled her eyes
'Hey Forrest Gump, you wanna throw me that axe?'
Lindsey started and then when Cordelia gave an impatient huff he carelessly emptied his hands onto the floor and threw her the axe. She caught it by the handle and then swung it at the creature's head. The demon twisted at the last moment and the axe sheered through one of its teeth sending the piece of discoloured bone ricocheting off from the wall. The demon screamed in agony and in reflex shoved Cordelia away knocking her axe hand as it did so and sending the weapon flying past Lindsey's head. The high- pitched scream that erupted from the lawyer's throat had Cordy's head snapping round and unfortunately left her wide open as the creature flailed in anger and agony. She took a clenched demon fist to the side of her face and crashed into the wall groaning as her headache flooded back. She lay stunned for a few seconds and then began to focus on Lindsey backing away from the demon ineffectually flapping his hands in a shooing motion. Cordy rolled her eyes.
"Jesus Lindsey, it's a demon not a damn cat."
Groaning the girl pushed to her feet again and snatched up the first sharp and pointy object that came to hand. The demon's tooth. Shrugging and at the same time emitting her own patented battle cry of "Eww eww eww!" Cordelia ran at the back of the demon and leaped bringing her arm around sharply to plunge the thing's tooth into its eye. The creature shrieked and Cordelia cursed as Lindsey tripped over his own feet in his hurry to get away from the carnage and then she managed to get a grip on the now very slippery tooth and yank it from the creature's eye and plunge it into its neck. The pain crazed screaming cut off immediately to be replaced by a wet bubbling and the thing sank to the floor scrabbling weakly at Cordelia's grip on its neck. She pushed away neatly as they hit the floor and then without taking her hand from the bloody wound at the demon's neck rolled it onto its back and knelt on its stomach further constricting its air supply. With a face like stone and eyes cold with purpose she tore the tooth from the bloody wound and hacked down again and again anywhere that gave before the shard of bone.
When all that was left beneath her was a bloody pile of gore and torn skin she pushed away and climbed unsteadily to her feet. She stood for a moment staring down at the life that she had just taken and then her eyes met Lindsey's. He flinched away from the blank look she gave him and stared at the blood-drenched woman still clutching the bloody piece of bone in her fist. Cordy slowly opened her hand and let it fall to the floor and without taking her eyes from Lindsey bent to collect her bag and tattered shirt from the floor. She stalked towards him and spun him with one hand and bent to retrieve the axe with the other.
"We have to go."
She walked ahead of him with a rigid stride that said clearer than any words just how pissed she was and Lindsey for the first time wondered whether he might not be better off taking his chances with Lilah's team than staying with the teenager with the centrefold body and the eyes of a killer.
"Where do you think is gonna be a safe place to regroup for a few minutes?"
Lindsey started at the sound of her voice and stared at the back of her head until she glanced back over her shoulder impatiently.
"Lindsey! Pay attention here. Where can we go to chill out for a few minutes while I plan our next move?"
His lip curled at the clipped tone of her voice and his eyes flashed
"I actually get a say in this then? I thought we were just playing a slightly bloodier than usual version of follow-my-leader."
Cordelia swung round on the stairs
"Excuse me? What did you just say to me?"
"I said I actually get a say in this then?"
Cordy stared into his eyes and for one glorious moment contemplated smacking him over the head with the handle of the axe and leaving him for the next demon to come along and then with a great deal of effort her better nature surfaced and she took a deep calming breath.
"Lindsey I know you have to be scared and that's pretty much all you can focus on right now so I'm going to ignore your tone of voice and sucky attitude and cut you some slack. I am saving your life and that doesn't give me a whole lot of time to focus on the social niceties. I fight every night. I have done since I turned sixteen years old and that has made me in to the person that I am now. Everyday that I wake up I get to be responsible for the greater good. Every day. In general the people I save are usually too traumatised and freaked to worry about anything other than that someone is there to save them and tell them what to do so I kinda fall into the habit of taking charge and keeping people alive."
Her eyes raked over him from head to toe in one scathing glance.
"You would have been dead in under five minutes if I hadn't picked tonight of all nights to come down here and burgle your ass and I am not going to keep having this conversation with you the whole night long."
She placed her hands on her hips and planted her feet wide apart.
" So here's your choice. You can follow me and live for as long as I can keep you alive or you can walk away now and die pretty much as soon as you run into the next big uglie that comes your way. What's it gonna be?"
Lindsey unconsciously drew his body up to mimic her own 'kiss my ass' stance and stared back at her.
"You think I can't take care of myself?"
Cordelia's level look told him all he needed to know.
"I have been watching my own back for the last five years in this company and you think I can't take care of myself for the next couple of hours?"
Cordelia continued to watch him and say nothing and suddenly the look on her face was too much to take. He clenched his hand into a fist and swung out at her feeling with dark satisfaction the power of the hit as it ploughed into her chin. Cordy made no noise as she went down and Lindsey made the most of the moment to follow her to the floor and straddle her body pinning her wrists to the floor. He had a brief glimpse of bitter chocolate eyes before he remembered how she dealt with the demon that had held her down in a similar way a short while before and then her sharp knee crashed between his legs and pushed his balls so far into his body it felt like they met with his stomach.
Cordy waited until he collapsed against her in a sudden boneless surrender before she pushed at him and rolled neatly to her feet. She rubbed a hand over her face and satisfied there was no lasting damage left Lindsey to his own private agony for a few moments to scout down the corridor. She was back in under a minute and without a word grabbed the stricken lawyer's collar and with a few sharp kicks had him on his feet and moving after her. She paused before a large dark double door and with a quick scan in both directions for any enemy sightings pushed open the door and threw Lindsey inside and watched him curl to the floor in breathless agony again. She flicked the lock and then spread her legs and placed her hands on her hips
"Get up."
Lindsey lifted his head and stared through eyes filled with tears at Cordelia. The girl stared back down at him and with a contemptuous shake of her head poked at his shoulder with her foot.
"I said get up."
Lindsey redoubled his grip on himself and fought to bring his breathing under control. He understood she was talking to him but in his own private world of pain he had no idea of what those words meant.
Cordy shook her head again and reaching down got a handful of that thick dark hair and yanked until he had no choice but to follow her hand up or have his scalp torn away. "Get up Lindsey and fight me."
Lindsey blinked at the furious face inches from his own and weakly shook his head praying for enough air to form some words.
Cordy released him and watched him stumble and sway until he managed to find his balance and remain upright and then she spoke in a low, hard voice.
"C'mon tough guy let's see what you've got."
Her arm snaked out almost casually and his head snapped back from a stinging slap to the cheek.
"Lindsey we don't have all night. Once I kick your ass I have to go out and kick all the other bad guy's asses and I really need to get a jump on that. So can we get the crushing of your male pride underway please?"
Lindsey stared at her in disbelief and shook his head again and then watched as she sighed and spun on one foot in a move the Slayer herself would have been proud of and kicked him in the chest like a mule.
He fell back and the precious amount of air he managed to suck into his lungs was promptly expelled in a big woof. Cordelia stalked after him and dragged him up again grunting with effort
"Cm'on Tyson. Put 'em up,"
Lindsey shook his head as she cuffed him around the ear again
"Cordelia, I don't want to fight you."
She snorted and gave him an abrupt shove
"Yeah now I'm winning. Cm'on Lindsey you've been jonesing for a good ass kicking ever since you found me tonight. I can take five seconds out of my busy schedule holding back an entire army of demons, by myself, to teach you a lesson."
She spun and kicked him again and knocked him back against a desk
"Come on!"
Lindsey lost it. He'd been beaten up, semi-tortured, had demonic assassins all over his ass and Cordelia Chase alternately laughing at him and beating him to a pulp. And she'd ruined his carpet.
He gave a roar like a ruined animal and charged and took a small crumb of satisfaction in the startled look on Cordelia's face before she crashed down beneath him. He didn't give her a chance to try any of her tricks this time but ruthlessly pinned her legs together and beneath his and took her slim supple wrists and slammed them to the floor above her head stretching and immobilising her beneath him. Cordelia struggled briefly for a few moments writhing against the hard body above her and then stilled, staring up into the azure blue eyes above her and waited for his next move
"Never, never, hit me again Cordelia."
She felt a chill slither down her spine at the cold command and much to her disgust a spark of something much lower in the pit of her stomach went zing! at the feel of his firm fingers clutching her arms and the hard thighs pressing against her.
I gotta get laid. The day I get turned on by having a psychopath overpower me and pin me to a grubby office floor is a day closer to turning into Loopscilla.
Her eyes focused on him again as he leaned forward and spoke in a voice low with menace into her ear
"You don't want me as an enemy Cordelia."
She shivered with reaction as his breath warmed her skin and pulled futilely at his grip
"Lindsey, you're hurting me."
She cringed at the breathy sound and turned her head to find his eyes an inch from her own
"And in case it's escaped your notice we are enemies. Have been since day one. Not a lot going on in the friendship department here."
Their eyes held as he slowly leaned back still keeping a tight hold on her and settled himself firmly at the apex of her thighs. His face was unreadable as he looked down at her and Cordelia worked to keep her own expression carefully blank as she met his eyes.
"Things are going to change. When I let you up, I'm in charge. We play this my way and when I say jump the only sound I want to hear from you is the bouncing of your feet on the floor as you try to get higher. Is that clear?"
Cordy bit her tongue and nodded sharply and allowed herself a preview of exactly how she was going to dismember him to run behind her eyes.
There went his hand; there went the real one. Oops I'm sorry Lindsey was that your leg? Here let me get that for you, well goddamn! There goes the other one! Lindsey smirked at the expression of naked hostility on her face and ground her wrists into the floor forcing a small groan out of her.
"Don't think it Cordy. You have me mad but still willing to work with you. I could leave you here all helpless for the big bad to find. Slayer meat remember?"
Cordelia forced her eyes to calm as she stared into his and concentrated on focusing on anything but her current predicament. Wesley and Gunn trying to cook British soul food, Angel singing Manilow, Phantom Dennis and the loofer anything but Lindsey McDonald looming over her and looking as though he could eat her up.
Nice one Cor, there's an image to keep you up at night.
She nodded again and hated herself for the small gasp that exploded from her as he suddenly swooped down and went almost nose to nose
"You need to remember I'm a man and not one of your pussy whipped white hats falling over themselves to stay in the Chase good books. You're playing with the grown ups now little girl and you need to be more careful who you treat like a house broken pet."
He pushed up and stood over her and then reached down and grasped her wrist pulling her to her feet. She felt the warmth from his body for a brief moment and then he shoved her away to stumble against the wall. She took a moment to steady herself and try to calm her racing heartbeat.
She had never, never, been spoken to or held down like that in her life and was deeply ashamed of the fact that her frantically pumping heart wasn't entirely due to anger over Lindsey's treatment of her. God help her she had actually enjoyed someone saying no for once. Her whole life she was used to people dancing to her tune and following her lead, even a two hundred and fifty year old vampire for gods sake, and never in all that time had someone held her and told her no. She shivered as she remembered the cold way he had told her, no ordered her, to show him respect found herself looking at him as he moved around in a whole new way.
The evil lawyer façade slipped away and she saw a man beneath. Strong and virile, flawed yes but with incredible self-possession and confidence that was evident in every line in his hard body. This was not a man to take lightly under any circumstances and she winced as she replayed the events of the evening so far in her mind. She had treated him with less respect than she did the average vamp or demon and suddenly that seemed very wrong. He was a human being, regardless of his moral choices in life, and had stuck with her through all of the night's events so far even when he had been so scared he had to force himself to move and despite his threat of tying her up and leaving her here she didn't believe that he would.
Cordelia opened her mouth and just as she was about to speak there was a tremendous crash against the locked door. They both whirled and stared at the door and then Cordelia moved to pick up her axe from where it lay on the floor and stood braced to face whatever came through. Lindsey watched her for a moment and then satisfied that the door would hold scanned the office they found themselves in for inspiration. Still more than eighteen floors up the window wasn't an option but unfortunately neither was the door. He stared at the desk and considered its potential for a barricade unwillingly deciding that the aged antique oak would snap like kindling before a concentrated otherworldly attack. He eyes scanned desperately around the office again and then returned to Cordelia as the wood of the door cracked and the light from the corridor began to shine through
"Lindsey they're coming. Stay behind me."
Her voice was calm and resigned and betrayed none of the terror that ate like acid at her insides. The hairs on the back of her neck and arms rose as through the cracks in the wood a wet pestilent voice sounded
"Slayer. Slayer coming for you. Going to make you scream."
Cordy shuddered as she heard the demonic delight in the voice and unhappily contemplated the pictures that rose unbidden in her minds of the unfortunate victims of demon attacks she'd seen. They wanted to hurt her every which way and the thought of being meat and passed around to be used as they wanted was not the way she was going out. She took two steps back and prepared to fight as long as she could for Lindsey and then if she lost to be as close to the windows as she could to remove herself from their reach permanently.
From behind her she heard a sharp exclamation from Lindsey and then from the side of her eye saw the wall fall away. She turned her head to look and the door crashed in revealing a mass of bodies all fighting to be the first in and at her. She tensed as they flooded towards her sending out mental goodbyes and messages of love to Wes, Gunn and even Angel and then.
"Cordy duck!"
Years of fighting alongside Buffy and Angel had her dropping to the floor and rolling to one side and she heard a wretched scream as something flew over her head and smashed into the demons before her. Lindsey's hand came down and pulled her to her feet and pushed her before him into the darkness of a tunnel behind the wall. She whirled as he let her go and then even as she took in the sight of two vamps and a demon spinning in the middle of the office flaming wildly and the others trying desperately to stay out of the way and follow the humans at the same time Lindsey raised his hand and depressed a small button in his hand. She opened her mouth to shout but it was too late. The false wall slammed back into place and they were in the dark and trapped in the tunnel from her vision.
Written in response to a challenge on the fan page to have Lindsey and one of the white hats trapped in Wolfram and Hart for the night.
Chapter 3.
One hour, two vamps and a small demon with teeth as long as its head later and the pair were finding it increasingly difficult to find anything humorous and Cordelia's one of a kind sweater was now in two distinct pieces. She held the ragged pieces of material in her hands and was torn between relief she'd worn a vest top underneath and misery that yet another item of her wardrobe wasn't good enough for dusters anymore. Lindsey was torn between sheer blind panic at the sheer numbers of the opposition they faced to get out of the building and pity at the look of sadness on Cordelia's face. On reflection he was leaning more towards blind panic.
"What are we going to do?"
"Mmm?"
"Cordelia what are we going to do?"
Cordelia held up the two pieces of the sweater and squinted dubiously
"Do you think I could get this repaired?"
She held the sweater to the light
"I mean it looks like a clean break right?"
Lindsey's mouth dropped open and he made a faint clucking noise in the back of his throat. Cordy frowned up at him from where she was seated on the floor.
"Lindsey what's wrong?"
He took a deep breath and made an effort to control his temper
"Cordelia I realise you have a real code ten clothing crisis going on at the moment but you could you please focus on the problem in hand?"
Cordy manfully struggled to keep a straight face at his choice of words and fixed an expression of bright interest on her face as he continued
"We need to think of something. I can't go on like this all night."
Cordy waved her hand dismissively one eye back on her ruined sweater
"Pfft. We've got a few minutes grace. The bad guys are down four men and they think they have two Slayers on the loose in the building. Trust me things will be a lot more sedate from now on."
Lindsey dragged his hands through his hair in frustration
"How can you be so sure?"
"Hello? Do pretty much this whole thing every night of my life remember?"
She finally gave up on the material and shoved it in the bag beside her on the floor
"I let that cowboy Gorch run for one reason and one reason only, he thinks I'm a Slayer and he thinks Buffy is here with me."
She gave a smug grin
"Once he changed his trousers, figuratively speaking, he would have given the four one one to his demon commando buddies and they would have suddenly become a lot more careful about peeking into dark rooms. If the leader has any sense he'll have the telepaths focusing on trying to locate any supernatural aura's that don't belong to their guys so that takes the pressure of us a little."
She came to feet in one lithe movement and casually hooked the bag over her head once again
"Our priority is finding a safe way out of here and taking out as many of the psychics as we can."
She turned and began to inch her way silently down the stairwell they had taken refuge in not bothering to see if Lindsey followed her.
He did but with increasingly bad grace. He was running mainly on adrenalin, fear and anger at the moment and the ease that Cordelia had taken on the role of commander bothered him considerably. He was at least eight years her senior and had a lot more experience of giving orders and planning strategies and, not to put too fine a point on it, she was a girl. A confident and amazingly sexy girl, albeit, but a girl nonetheless.
Cordy for her part was beginning to wonder if Lindsey had ever seen a demon outside of the controlled and well-protected offices of Wolfram and Hart. When she had taken the head off the vamp that was with Gorch she had not given any thought to his unwillingness to attack but when they had run into their next opponent with the amazingly long teeth he had done everything but scream and wet his expensive pants. Admittedly hacking something's tooth off and then stabbing it repeatedly with it until it died wasn't the most pleasant way to spend five minutes out of your life but she expected a little more help than the lawyer watching the corridors to make sure they weren't caught by surprise. She sneaked a look back over her shoulder and saw his face creased in a dark scowl of concentration and then shook her head in amazement as she recalled the details of the fight that had seen the demise of her favourite green sweater.
'Cordelia watch out!'
Cordy turned and saw the demon right before it crashed into her taking her to the floor. She twisted her head to the side to avoid the wildly gnashing teeth and concentrated on putting everything she had into the knee that she brought sharply up between the thing's legs. She grinned as it gave a pained woof of surprise and crashed sideways leaving her clear to scramble clear and give it a quick kick to the ribs on the way up.
'Don't seem to matter what dimension they come from or how they get made, the ball basher gets 'em every time!'
Cordy's triumphant exclamation put Lindsey's teeth on edge and he found himself fighting down a crimson tide of rage at the casual way she pushed her hair back. He was about to make a comment when the young girl suddenly dropped like a sack of coal and disappeared under the body of the small stocky demon. He backed away in horror as Cordelia yelled out and then turned to the bag that had fallen on the floor and pulled out the alcohol soaked rags and a lighter. Cordelia's face when she managed to roll on top of the demon managed to state in no uncertain terms what she thought of that plan and then just in case Lindsey was in any doubt the shrill 'Are you nuts?!' managed to clear things up nicely.
He stood staring at the at the two rolling on the floor but it was only when Cordelia shrieked again that he really began to see what was going on in front of his face. To his relief she didn't appear to be injured but her green sweater hung in two separate halves from her shoulders and her face for the first time was flushed with sheer fury.
'You son of a bitch!'
Cordelia stared down at her sweater and then her hands rose in a double fist to smash under the creature's jaw and into its throat. As its hands rose in a reflex action she sprang to her feet and then jumping into the air brought her knees under her and smashed into the thing's belly the air left in a rush and it made some interesting wheezing noises. Cordy looked up at Lindsey standing still grasping the useless equipment he had snatched from the bag and rolled her eyes
'Hey Forrest Gump, you wanna throw me that axe?'
Lindsey started and then when Cordelia gave an impatient huff he carelessly emptied his hands onto the floor and threw her the axe. She caught it by the handle and then swung it at the creature's head. The demon twisted at the last moment and the axe sheered through one of its teeth sending the piece of discoloured bone ricocheting off from the wall. The demon screamed in agony and in reflex shoved Cordelia away knocking her axe hand as it did so and sending the weapon flying past Lindsey's head. The high- pitched scream that erupted from the lawyer's throat had Cordy's head snapping round and unfortunately left her wide open as the creature flailed in anger and agony. She took a clenched demon fist to the side of her face and crashed into the wall groaning as her headache flooded back. She lay stunned for a few seconds and then began to focus on Lindsey backing away from the demon ineffectually flapping his hands in a shooing motion. Cordy rolled her eyes.
"Jesus Lindsey, it's a demon not a damn cat."
Groaning the girl pushed to her feet again and snatched up the first sharp and pointy object that came to hand. The demon's tooth. Shrugging and at the same time emitting her own patented battle cry of "Eww eww eww!" Cordelia ran at the back of the demon and leaped bringing her arm around sharply to plunge the thing's tooth into its eye. The creature shrieked and Cordelia cursed as Lindsey tripped over his own feet in his hurry to get away from the carnage and then she managed to get a grip on the now very slippery tooth and yank it from the creature's eye and plunge it into its neck. The pain crazed screaming cut off immediately to be replaced by a wet bubbling and the thing sank to the floor scrabbling weakly at Cordelia's grip on its neck. She pushed away neatly as they hit the floor and then without taking her hand from the bloody wound at the demon's neck rolled it onto its back and knelt on its stomach further constricting its air supply. With a face like stone and eyes cold with purpose she tore the tooth from the bloody wound and hacked down again and again anywhere that gave before the shard of bone.
When all that was left beneath her was a bloody pile of gore and torn skin she pushed away and climbed unsteadily to her feet. She stood for a moment staring down at the life that she had just taken and then her eyes met Lindsey's. He flinched away from the blank look she gave him and stared at the blood-drenched woman still clutching the bloody piece of bone in her fist. Cordy slowly opened her hand and let it fall to the floor and without taking her eyes from Lindsey bent to collect her bag and tattered shirt from the floor. She stalked towards him and spun him with one hand and bent to retrieve the axe with the other.
"We have to go."
She walked ahead of him with a rigid stride that said clearer than any words just how pissed she was and Lindsey for the first time wondered whether he might not be better off taking his chances with Lilah's team than staying with the teenager with the centrefold body and the eyes of a killer.
"Where do you think is gonna be a safe place to regroup for a few minutes?"
Lindsey started at the sound of her voice and stared at the back of her head until she glanced back over her shoulder impatiently.
"Lindsey! Pay attention here. Where can we go to chill out for a few minutes while I plan our next move?"
His lip curled at the clipped tone of her voice and his eyes flashed
"I actually get a say in this then? I thought we were just playing a slightly bloodier than usual version of follow-my-leader."
Cordelia swung round on the stairs
"Excuse me? What did you just say to me?"
"I said I actually get a say in this then?"
Cordy stared into his eyes and for one glorious moment contemplated smacking him over the head with the handle of the axe and leaving him for the next demon to come along and then with a great deal of effort her better nature surfaced and she took a deep calming breath.
"Lindsey I know you have to be scared and that's pretty much all you can focus on right now so I'm going to ignore your tone of voice and sucky attitude and cut you some slack. I am saving your life and that doesn't give me a whole lot of time to focus on the social niceties. I fight every night. I have done since I turned sixteen years old and that has made me in to the person that I am now. Everyday that I wake up I get to be responsible for the greater good. Every day. In general the people I save are usually too traumatised and freaked to worry about anything other than that someone is there to save them and tell them what to do so I kinda fall into the habit of taking charge and keeping people alive."
Her eyes raked over him from head to toe in one scathing glance.
"You would have been dead in under five minutes if I hadn't picked tonight of all nights to come down here and burgle your ass and I am not going to keep having this conversation with you the whole night long."
She placed her hands on her hips and planted her feet wide apart.
" So here's your choice. You can follow me and live for as long as I can keep you alive or you can walk away now and die pretty much as soon as you run into the next big uglie that comes your way. What's it gonna be?"
Lindsey unconsciously drew his body up to mimic her own 'kiss my ass' stance and stared back at her.
"You think I can't take care of myself?"
Cordelia's level look told him all he needed to know.
"I have been watching my own back for the last five years in this company and you think I can't take care of myself for the next couple of hours?"
Cordelia continued to watch him and say nothing and suddenly the look on her face was too much to take. He clenched his hand into a fist and swung out at her feeling with dark satisfaction the power of the hit as it ploughed into her chin. Cordy made no noise as she went down and Lindsey made the most of the moment to follow her to the floor and straddle her body pinning her wrists to the floor. He had a brief glimpse of bitter chocolate eyes before he remembered how she dealt with the demon that had held her down in a similar way a short while before and then her sharp knee crashed between his legs and pushed his balls so far into his body it felt like they met with his stomach.
Cordy waited until he collapsed against her in a sudden boneless surrender before she pushed at him and rolled neatly to her feet. She rubbed a hand over her face and satisfied there was no lasting damage left Lindsey to his own private agony for a few moments to scout down the corridor. She was back in under a minute and without a word grabbed the stricken lawyer's collar and with a few sharp kicks had him on his feet and moving after her. She paused before a large dark double door and with a quick scan in both directions for any enemy sightings pushed open the door and threw Lindsey inside and watched him curl to the floor in breathless agony again. She flicked the lock and then spread her legs and placed her hands on her hips
"Get up."
Lindsey lifted his head and stared through eyes filled with tears at Cordelia. The girl stared back down at him and with a contemptuous shake of her head poked at his shoulder with her foot.
"I said get up."
Lindsey redoubled his grip on himself and fought to bring his breathing under control. He understood she was talking to him but in his own private world of pain he had no idea of what those words meant.
Cordy shook her head again and reaching down got a handful of that thick dark hair and yanked until he had no choice but to follow her hand up or have his scalp torn away. "Get up Lindsey and fight me."
Lindsey blinked at the furious face inches from his own and weakly shook his head praying for enough air to form some words.
Cordy released him and watched him stumble and sway until he managed to find his balance and remain upright and then she spoke in a low, hard voice.
"C'mon tough guy let's see what you've got."
Her arm snaked out almost casually and his head snapped back from a stinging slap to the cheek.
"Lindsey we don't have all night. Once I kick your ass I have to go out and kick all the other bad guy's asses and I really need to get a jump on that. So can we get the crushing of your male pride underway please?"
Lindsey stared at her in disbelief and shook his head again and then watched as she sighed and spun on one foot in a move the Slayer herself would have been proud of and kicked him in the chest like a mule.
He fell back and the precious amount of air he managed to suck into his lungs was promptly expelled in a big woof. Cordelia stalked after him and dragged him up again grunting with effort
"Cm'on Tyson. Put 'em up,"
Lindsey shook his head as she cuffed him around the ear again
"Cordelia, I don't want to fight you."
She snorted and gave him an abrupt shove
"Yeah now I'm winning. Cm'on Lindsey you've been jonesing for a good ass kicking ever since you found me tonight. I can take five seconds out of my busy schedule holding back an entire army of demons, by myself, to teach you a lesson."
She spun and kicked him again and knocked him back against a desk
"Come on!"
Lindsey lost it. He'd been beaten up, semi-tortured, had demonic assassins all over his ass and Cordelia Chase alternately laughing at him and beating him to a pulp. And she'd ruined his carpet.
He gave a roar like a ruined animal and charged and took a small crumb of satisfaction in the startled look on Cordelia's face before she crashed down beneath him. He didn't give her a chance to try any of her tricks this time but ruthlessly pinned her legs together and beneath his and took her slim supple wrists and slammed them to the floor above her head stretching and immobilising her beneath him. Cordelia struggled briefly for a few moments writhing against the hard body above her and then stilled, staring up into the azure blue eyes above her and waited for his next move
"Never, never, hit me again Cordelia."
She felt a chill slither down her spine at the cold command and much to her disgust a spark of something much lower in the pit of her stomach went zing! at the feel of his firm fingers clutching her arms and the hard thighs pressing against her.
I gotta get laid. The day I get turned on by having a psychopath overpower me and pin me to a grubby office floor is a day closer to turning into Loopscilla.
Her eyes focused on him again as he leaned forward and spoke in a voice low with menace into her ear
"You don't want me as an enemy Cordelia."
She shivered with reaction as his breath warmed her skin and pulled futilely at his grip
"Lindsey, you're hurting me."
She cringed at the breathy sound and turned her head to find his eyes an inch from her own
"And in case it's escaped your notice we are enemies. Have been since day one. Not a lot going on in the friendship department here."
Their eyes held as he slowly leaned back still keeping a tight hold on her and settled himself firmly at the apex of her thighs. His face was unreadable as he looked down at her and Cordelia worked to keep her own expression carefully blank as she met his eyes.
"Things are going to change. When I let you up, I'm in charge. We play this my way and when I say jump the only sound I want to hear from you is the bouncing of your feet on the floor as you try to get higher. Is that clear?"
Cordy bit her tongue and nodded sharply and allowed herself a preview of exactly how she was going to dismember him to run behind her eyes.
There went his hand; there went the real one. Oops I'm sorry Lindsey was that your leg? Here let me get that for you, well goddamn! There goes the other one! Lindsey smirked at the expression of naked hostility on her face and ground her wrists into the floor forcing a small groan out of her.
"Don't think it Cordy. You have me mad but still willing to work with you. I could leave you here all helpless for the big bad to find. Slayer meat remember?"
Cordelia forced her eyes to calm as she stared into his and concentrated on focusing on anything but her current predicament. Wesley and Gunn trying to cook British soul food, Angel singing Manilow, Phantom Dennis and the loofer anything but Lindsey McDonald looming over her and looking as though he could eat her up.
Nice one Cor, there's an image to keep you up at night.
She nodded again and hated herself for the small gasp that exploded from her as he suddenly swooped down and went almost nose to nose
"You need to remember I'm a man and not one of your pussy whipped white hats falling over themselves to stay in the Chase good books. You're playing with the grown ups now little girl and you need to be more careful who you treat like a house broken pet."
He pushed up and stood over her and then reached down and grasped her wrist pulling her to her feet. She felt the warmth from his body for a brief moment and then he shoved her away to stumble against the wall. She took a moment to steady herself and try to calm her racing heartbeat.
She had never, never, been spoken to or held down like that in her life and was deeply ashamed of the fact that her frantically pumping heart wasn't entirely due to anger over Lindsey's treatment of her. God help her she had actually enjoyed someone saying no for once. Her whole life she was used to people dancing to her tune and following her lead, even a two hundred and fifty year old vampire for gods sake, and never in all that time had someone held her and told her no. She shivered as she remembered the cold way he had told her, no ordered her, to show him respect found herself looking at him as he moved around in a whole new way.
The evil lawyer façade slipped away and she saw a man beneath. Strong and virile, flawed yes but with incredible self-possession and confidence that was evident in every line in his hard body. This was not a man to take lightly under any circumstances and she winced as she replayed the events of the evening so far in her mind. She had treated him with less respect than she did the average vamp or demon and suddenly that seemed very wrong. He was a human being, regardless of his moral choices in life, and had stuck with her through all of the night's events so far even when he had been so scared he had to force himself to move and despite his threat of tying her up and leaving her here she didn't believe that he would.
Cordelia opened her mouth and just as she was about to speak there was a tremendous crash against the locked door. They both whirled and stared at the door and then Cordelia moved to pick up her axe from where it lay on the floor and stood braced to face whatever came through. Lindsey watched her for a moment and then satisfied that the door would hold scanned the office they found themselves in for inspiration. Still more than eighteen floors up the window wasn't an option but unfortunately neither was the door. He stared at the desk and considered its potential for a barricade unwillingly deciding that the aged antique oak would snap like kindling before a concentrated otherworldly attack. He eyes scanned desperately around the office again and then returned to Cordelia as the wood of the door cracked and the light from the corridor began to shine through
"Lindsey they're coming. Stay behind me."
Her voice was calm and resigned and betrayed none of the terror that ate like acid at her insides. The hairs on the back of her neck and arms rose as through the cracks in the wood a wet pestilent voice sounded
"Slayer. Slayer coming for you. Going to make you scream."
Cordy shuddered as she heard the demonic delight in the voice and unhappily contemplated the pictures that rose unbidden in her minds of the unfortunate victims of demon attacks she'd seen. They wanted to hurt her every which way and the thought of being meat and passed around to be used as they wanted was not the way she was going out. She took two steps back and prepared to fight as long as she could for Lindsey and then if she lost to be as close to the windows as she could to remove herself from their reach permanently.
From behind her she heard a sharp exclamation from Lindsey and then from the side of her eye saw the wall fall away. She turned her head to look and the door crashed in revealing a mass of bodies all fighting to be the first in and at her. She tensed as they flooded towards her sending out mental goodbyes and messages of love to Wes, Gunn and even Angel and then.
"Cordy duck!"
Years of fighting alongside Buffy and Angel had her dropping to the floor and rolling to one side and she heard a wretched scream as something flew over her head and smashed into the demons before her. Lindsey's hand came down and pulled her to her feet and pushed her before him into the darkness of a tunnel behind the wall. She whirled as he let her go and then even as she took in the sight of two vamps and a demon spinning in the middle of the office flaming wildly and the others trying desperately to stay out of the way and follow the humans at the same time Lindsey raised his hand and depressed a small button in his hand. She opened her mouth to shout but it was too late. The false wall slammed back into place and they were in the dark and trapped in the tunnel from her vision.