Title: Phoenix Chronicles: Dreams Of Another Life
Author: Nodakskip
Email: Nodakskip@aol.com
Author's Notes: This is part seven of 'The Phoenix Chronicles'. Thanks to Theo for beta-reading. Also I am still in stages of writing this so the updates will be a bit apart.
Summary: It's nearly Christmas time. And while Xander and Cordelia settle into their new life together, she sees some things she will wish she hadn't.
December 16th 2004
Behold the City of Angels. LA – it's a place where people come to make their dreams come true.
But the funny thing is, there are many different kinds of dreams.
For example, the ones somewhat euphemistically known as living nightmares.
In a booth near the back of Lounge La Brea, Wilson Christopher nudged his friend Jason. "That's the guy I told you about," he said, as the person who had once dated Cordelia Chase for three weeks pointed towards a dark-haired man at the bar, who had two women seemingly eating out of the palm of his hand.
The two other men and their dates also looked over. "Oh, he's cute," Marci, Jason's date said. "What does he do?"
"Well, ladies, that in fact is Sergio. He's a big-shot photographer from New York..."
All four women sitting at the table perked up their ears, when they heard that. And then Wilson's date, Betty, said in disgust, "Just look at those two airheads he's with! My God, they're almost doing him right there!"
Wilson turned back to his male friends. All three nodded to him, and they stood up. "Will you please excuse us for a few minutes, ladies? We need to have a quick talk with Sergio. Our…boss wants us to see if he'll do a photo shoot with us. If he agrees, then we might need some extra models," Christopher told them with a grin.
As the men left, the women all glanced at each other with large, knowing smiles.
***
The woman called Karen laughed at his joke. "Oh, Sergio. You didn't?"
As the men approached, the other girl known as Lisa felt Sergio's arm. "Ooh, you just must work out! I bet you could bench-press me!"
He gave her a wink and said with an Italian accent, "Maybe later, we'll find out..." And before Lisa could reply, they heard a man clearing his throat behind them.
Sergio turned towards the four men. "In case you can't tell, me and my lovely companions here are enjoying ourselves. There are plenty of empty stools elsewhere!" He started to turn back to the women, "Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Wilson put his hand on his shoulder. "Sergio? You are him, right? The photographer?"
Instead of giving an answer, Sergio turned to his two dates. "Ah, you see what curse fame is ladies? I get all types of fans." He looked back to Wilson, "I'm sorry, my friend, but I don't happen to swing that way. I'm honored you like my work, but..."
Wilson cut him off, "Antonio told us that you might be interested in doing a shoot with us."
Sergio looked quickly at him. "Will you excuse me, ladies?" They started to pout. "Now, now, I could never leave such fine examples of womanly beauty alone for but a few minutes! But it is better to get business out of the way, while the night is still young."
He got up, but was stopped when Karen grabbed his arm and pulled him into a quick kiss. "Hurry back now."
"But of course, my dear..."
Moments later, Sergio and the other men were off standing by themselves. "You say you have a shoot to do? Thing is, I'm a very busy…"
"Cut the act," Jason demanded. "We all know you're almost broke. And that accent sucks."
Sergio instantly dropped the accent, and spoke with a southern California twang as he shrugged. "They don't seem to think so..." the young man told them, as he pointed back to the bar. "Now, what did you have in mind? Maybe Lady Luck will smile upon me tonight..."
"Looks to me like she already has," one of the guys said, as he looked over to the two women at the bar.
Sergio laughed. "Those two airheads? Please! This time a year ago, those two would be a waste of my time. It's too easy; they think I'm gonna do an entire photo spread with them! Of course, I won't be around tomorrow for them to find, so no skin off my nose..."
"Sounds like you don't care much for models," Wilson told him with a penetrating look.
"Should I? They're just cattle, pal. For every girl modeling, there are dozens getting off the buses from Hicksville USA – every single day! There are so many girls doing it nowadays, that nobody would miss those two. Easily replaceable, but tonight I'm kinda bored," Sergio told them with a bit of arrogance.
"Like we said, Antonio told us about you. No major jobs in the last ten months. And the bank coming after you? Can't be fun," Wilson said, looking Sergio over.
Jason went for the sales pitch, "What would you say if we could have you back on top, in less than 48 hours? With more than enough money to burn?"
Sergio laughed. "What? You have some magic beans? Maybe a wish-granting genie in your pocket?"
"You could say that," Wilson said as he moved up and whispered a few lines to Sergio.
When he was done, Sergio looked up in a pleasant surprise. "You're saying that all I have to do is drink some little vial of liquid, then take those two girls home, have a hell of a lot of fun with them tonight and a day or so later I get rich? You can't be serious!"
"Oh but we are," one of the other men spoke. "But the one thing you have to do, is make sure you don't take them to your apartment. Go back to one of their places."
"Why's that? 'Cause I do love my waterbed."
Wilson shook his head. "It would get messy in the morning; you know how chicks can get. But trust me, after tomorrow those two won't annoy you anymore."
Sergio looked giddy. "You guys in LA sure know your stuff! But there is just one thing left I have to do, before I drink anything."
"Oh, and what's that?" Wilson asked, still grinning.
"Just this!" Sergio's face took on a very dark look of pure hate, and the guys backed up when his right hand started to glow blue.
In less than a heartbeat his fist connected, and Wilson Christopher found himself airborne. His body impacted upon the far wall, shattering the large mirrors mounted on it.
Jason and his two friends looked in utter horror, at what happened to their leader. They then looked around dumbly, as everyone in the bar – the bartender, the young couple on the other side of the bar, and even the two bimbos Sergio was with – all pulled out guns.
The two women moved quickly and covered the three men. "Don't move!" they shouted.
"Keep them here," Sergio ordered, before he went to check on Wilson's point of impact with the wall.
"How is he?" he asked the young blonde, who was checking him over.
Amy Madison looked up at him. "He's out cold. Damn it, Xander, you shattered his collarbone!"
Captain Alexander Harris, U.S. Air Force, cursed under his breath. "I meant to take his head clean off. Can you fix this and wake him up?"
Amy nodded. "Just give me a minute." She turned to her 'date', "Vince, gimme my purse, I need some stuff..."
***
"All right, you bitch! What the hell is going on?!" Jason demanded from the dark-haired girl holding a gun on him.
She just looked at him, with pure and utter hatred. "You really are one stupid asshole, aren't you?" she raised her gun to pistol-whip him. But Lt. Rebecca Gerald grabbed her arm, "We don't beat prisoners!"
Melissa Estrich looked at her shocked. "You can't be serious. We should put these assholes on the Prometheus, and launch them out an airlock into the sun or something!"
Jason laughed, "You better listen to her, bitch. She knows her place, at least! And I'd start to worry, if I were you. We're gonna sue you, for all you're worth..."
Melissa concentrated for a second, and everyone watched as a full glass pitcher of beer on the bar flew at Jason's head. He barely ducked out of the way, as it flew by. The guy quickly stood, and with a frown started up the spiel again.
"How did you…?" the man stopped, when the pitcher came to a full stop in mid-air and few back to him. It floated above him for a second, before dumping its entire contents onto his head. Then it flew up a foot, and then fell back down onto his head, hard.
As he hit the floor unconscious, Melissa shrugged off Rebecca's glare. "What? I didn't touch him..."
She then waved her gun at the other two men. "Did I touch him?" she asked with a bit of venom in her voice.
The two men quickly shook their heads. "There, you see? I never touched him," Melissa said with a bit of pride and self-satisfaction.
***
"What's going on here?" Betty asked timidly, as she watched the blonde girl stand after somehow making parts of Wilson's body glow.
Xander looked at the four women, who were cowering together in the middle of the curved booth. "Take it easy, we're the good guys..."
Amy moved next to him, and the women got even more scared as her eyes went pitch black as she seemed to look them over. The women suddenly felt like she was looking into their very souls...
After her eyes went back to their normal color, she nodded to the man they knew only as Sergio. "They're all clean. None of them have been infected."
"Infected with what?" Marci asked, as she hid behind another girl.
"Oh, nothing much," Xander Harris told them. "Just that Wilson and his buddies were going to sacrifice you four, to their new demon master. They would have impregnated all of you, and then walked away before the demon babies burst out through your stomachs tomorrow."
"What?!"
Xander ignored them, when he heard Wilson moaning. He called to the other end of the bar, "Hey, bring those three down here!"
Five minutes later an angry Wilson Christopher, his two other friends and a just-waking-up Jason were thrown violently into a booth with quite a few weapons pointed at them.
Wilson looked around. "Who the hell are you? And what did you do with our dates?!"
"You mean the models you came here with? They're safe, and far away from you," Xander responded. "Right now, they're being taken home. And they'll wake up tomorrow at Betty's apartment, with no memory whatsoever of anything after you guys met them here tonight."
"I don't know what you're talking about! Look, we've done nothing wrong! Now let us go, and maybe we won't sue your entire department!" Wilson yelled at Xander.
"Our department?" Melissa asked, confused.
"Idiot thinks we're cops," Xander laughed. "Sorry to disappoint, pal! Just think of us as...a higher authority. But Jason, there's an old friend of yours that I want you to see again." He pulled out a small radio, "Bring her in."
Seconds later, a young, blonde-haired woman walked into the bar. She walked right over to them. As soon as Jason saw her, he swore. "Shit..."
Xander grinned. "Oh, you remember Mary here? I know she remembers you, don't you Mary?"
The woman nodded, right before she punched Jason in the face. Jason tried to grab her, but Melissa held him in place. Xander chuckled. "That's not bad, Mary, but you could have also done it like this…" he swung his fist and nailed Wilson right in the mouth.
"See?" Xander asked her. "I had to have at least knocked loose a tooth, maybe two!"
He turned to Jason. "Now Jason, Mary has had a lot happen to her over the last year, hasn't she? I mean, she wakes up one morning and finds her sister – who went out with you the night before – nine months pregnant..."
Wilson had a sudden horrible feeling of upcoming doom, as Xander kept talking to Jason. "And she couldn't get ahold of you, seems your phone had been disconnected. But then her sister disappears that same day. And since the story of a woman becoming nine months pregnant overnight is just too impossible to believe…well, who in their right minds would believe that Mary was sane anymore? Got put in a hospital and on heavy medication," Xander shook his head.
"Damn shame, if you ask me. And I also learn that you filed a restraining order, because if I remember your statement right…she was a crack whore and a hooker. That was your explanation, wasn't it?"
Xander laughed at Jason's panicked look. "You don't look so good, Jason. Don't ya just hate it, when the past comes back to bite you in the ass?"
He moved to face Wilson; and the leader of the 'Four Horsemen' got right in his face. "But with you and me, asshole, it's very personal!" He held up a picture. "You recognize her, Wilson?"
The man in question quickly shook his head, causing Xander to frown. "No? Not ringing any bells? I mean, you had sex with her and impregnated her with that demon spawn that woulda killed her, just so you could get rich. But then, I guess you do that a lot..."
Xander spoke softly to him, "You know, if Cordelia had lost her virginity to you when you tried to do that to her...well, let's just say that people would lose count of the number of stab wounds that would've ended up on your body!" Wilson's face went white, before he instantly fainted.
Xander stood up, annoyed. "He fainted at that?! I didn't even get to the part with the piranhas yet!"
***
Approximately 35 minutes later, Xander shook his head as he watched the van carrying Wilson and his friends speed off to the airport – before he turned to the older man, next to him. "I have to tell ya, Giles – I was so ready to kill him with that first punch, it's not even funny..."
Giles nodded. "I know, Xander. Myself, I only wish there were a way to remove Angel's soul safely, just for a few hours. I do remember how skilled Angelus was with torture..."
"Well, don't sweat it. I mean, I remember the inventive ways the Council…" he saw Giles' look, "Sorry, the ways Travers had. I'm sure Wilson and his buddies will crack, long before I almost did."
"Don't worry," Giles' eyes had a gleam to them, and Xander could almost see his inner Ripper coming out. "We, we will get the name of every woman they hurt. And they won't be bothering anyone else, ever again."
"Cool. Hey, ya know what? I never did learn about the Watchers' prison system..."
"Well, let's just say that our jails are filled with more than just humans, and Wilson will get a very fun cellmate," Giles grinned.
"Oh?" Xander inquired
"Oh, yes. He will almost certainly wish that we had just let you deal with him."
"Good," Xander said with a dark look. "And what about Mary?"
"She has a first class ticket waiting for her at the airport. Emma believes that she will make a fine addition to the Watchers..." Giles checked his watch. "I must be off, to-to that meeting with your General Andrews. And I believe you and your team have a demon to kill?"
Xander nodded. "Gavin is bringing in the liquid nitrogen now. We figured if it worked before a few years ago, it will again now. Plus, April's hacking into all those assholes' bank accounts, and donating it all anonymously to various Rape and Abuse Crisis Centers around the country."
***
December 17th 2004
The Dark Viper club was utterly packed.
It was enjoying its brief stint as one of the hottest clubs in Hollywood, the scene where anybody who was somebody hung out. And at that moment the new cast of the soon-to-be hit movie and TV series, The Lost Girls, were coming back up to the third level after a bit of dancing.
The lone male of the group, Rider Strong, was feeling a bit down. He saw the second woman almost come up and talk to him...before his co-stars pulled him back to their table. "Man, I am never gonna get a girl this way..."
"Why do you say that?" the series' main star, Cerina Vincent, asked as they all sat back down. She looked to her two other co-stars, Cordelia Chase and, Courtney Peldon.
Rider just looked at her. "Do you see who I'm sitting here with? You three have been hit on at least three times each in the last hour, but me...they get scared off! No offense, ladies, but sitting with three beautiful young women doesn't send out a big 'I'm available' sign here!"
Cordelia laughed. "My fiancé would so totally agree with you."
"Oh, and why's that?"
"Well, when we were in high school he always hung around with me and two other girls. There were these like rumors amongst the female population, that he had to be gay! But when we started to go out – that killed most of 'em. And the funny thing is, that it was one of the girls who was gay, or turned gay! I'm not sure on that part..."
Rider put his head on the table, "So, they could be thinking I'm gay...oh, that's so much better!"
Courtney silently swore as she said, "Cordelia, it looks like your admirer is coming back to try again..."
Cordelia let out a groan, as the male model pulled up a chair next to her. He then sat down at the table, while putting his arm over Cordelia's shoulder. Leaning in he whispered into her ear, what he was sure would get her interested in him.
After all, it always worked – in his humble opinion.
Or at least it used to always work, as he found out when a very angry Cordelia Chase grabbed him by his designer shirt collar and lifted him up from his chair. Her eyes met his, and the guy was shocked by the amount of venom in the woman's gaze.
"Listen up, bozo! Every girl likes to know that she still has it enough to get asked out, once in a while..." Cordy held up her right hand, showing the silver ring. "But this, for the second time, says that I'm taken. And just for the record..." she then pulled him really close.
"Only one man is allowed to touch me in the way you just whispered about...AND YOU ARE NOT HIM! Now why don't you go back to your idiot friends over there, before I get even more pissed off!"
And after the young woman released him, the guy scampered away back to his table as fast as he could. Cordelia sat back down and looked to her new friends, as if nothing had happened. Then she noticed their surprised faces, "What?"
"Uh, Cordelia, you know it's just my character that has the big crush on you, right?" Rider asked her jokingly.
"Rider, I know. And please, you guys can call me Cordy. See, the attitude? After all the guys that came into the detective agency...I had to be very tough, or else they kept annoying me."
Cerina leaned in. "Okay then Cordy, then let's get some dirt. We've heard about this fiancé of yours, but we've never heard his name."
Cordy looked up from her drink in surprise. "I never told you his name?"
"Nope."
"Oh, well, his name's Xander Harris. And we grew up together, known each other since kindergarten. Of course, we totally didn't get along, till high school..."
Cerina pressed, "Oh, and what happened in high school?"
Cordelia grinned. She had quickly found out after she'd met her, that Cerina liked a good dishing session.
"Well, we argued all the time. See, we were at opposite ends of the spectrum. I was the rich popular cheerleader, and he was the class clown! We always fought with each other, basically because he was the only one who could keep up with me when we argued. And after a day with the sheep, it was kinda fun to just throw down and argue with someone who actually had a brain!"
"Sheep?" Courtney asked in confusion.
A shrug. "Being the popular girl, sometimes makes your friends agree with everything you say. I swear, I could have said the sky was bright pink or purple and they would have agreed with me – no questions asked."
She smiled, remembering. "One day, we went to our friend Buffy's house to find her. No one was home, we searched the basement...and we, uh, got locked in. We were in there for a long time, and being bitter enemies we just had to start arguing. Well, I can hardly remember what I said to him – or him to me – but we REALLY got in each other's faces. Next thing I know, we were making out like there was no tomorrow."
Rider shook his head. "I don't think I've ever had any luck getting the girl, by arguing with her nonstop. I've gotten slugged a few times, though..."
"So, how did making out with your mortal enemy feel?" Cerina pressed again, ignoring that.
Cordy grinned. "Of course I would never tell him, but it felt really good! The next day we met in an empty classroom at school, and started to fight about who jumped who. A few minutes of arguing later, we were right back at it! I tell you, while I was growing up with him I never thought that Xander Harris would be a good kisser. Hell, the words Xander and kisser didn't ever go together in my mind till then. We..."
Her story was cut off by the sound of a loud scream, coming from the lower level dance floor.
***
The dancers stopped, as a body fell off the stage. Three vampires came from the rear entrance to join the lead vampire on the podium, Harmony Kendall.
***
They were all at the railing, as they looked down. "Are they filming a movie here or what? Uh, don't they close the place down, when they do a location shoot?" Rider asked.
"You have got to kidding me. Harmony!?"
Everyone looked to Cordelia, as she shook her head muttering, "I told her to get outta town and stay out, but nooo. The bimbo patrol is back!"
"You know her?!" Courtney asked in amazement.
"She used to be one of my 'sheep'!"
Rider looked down at the stage. "Small world, huh?"
"Right now I wish it could be bigger," Cordy grunted, as she started for the stairs.
A strong hand grabbed her, and she turned to find herself in the grips of a security guard for the club. "Best to stay up here, miss. The police are on their way," he told her.
"Thanks, but I can take care of myself..." the former seer started to say, when Rider yelled, "What the hell!?"
Cordelia ran back to the railing, looking down. "What? What happened?"
Cerina was dumbstruck. "One of those people just flew through the air, and disintegrated!"
"Huh, someone actually dusted one of the vamps?"
All three of her co-stars looked at her. "Vamps?!"
Cordelia ignored their looks, as she looked back down in time to see a man fighting with one of the undead. He was moving as fast as the vampire, and using a pool cue as a weapon. All she could see was his backside...
And what she saw caused her to grin. "Oh, I'd recognize that butt anywhere!"
***
Xander dodged the vamp's attack easily. He almost felt sorry for the average vampire that he fought these days, but then he remembered how sorry the average bloodsucker would have felt for him before he got his powers.
The young man swung the pool cue around, nailing the vamp in the head with the thick end. He swung it around fast to hit him from the other side, but the vamp caught the cue in mid-flight. He held the end with one hand and smashed the middle of the cue with the other, breaking it in two.
It treated Xander to a toothy grin as he dropped his part, and lunged for him. But he stopped, when he saw the human return his smile.
"Thanks man, it wasn't sharp enough," the leader of the 'Four Horsemen' told the vamp, before he rammed the cue half he was holding into its heart.
And as the vamp turned to dust, Xander grabbed the other half of the cue and threw it at the charging vampire, with a bit of his power behind it.
That soulless demon had only a split second to see the cue coming, and then lost it as it impaled him, half coming out the other side. He snarled, "Oh, fu..." before he disintegrated.
Xander moved right for the stage, and saw that the female vampire had jumped down and grabbed a hostage. All the remaining people on the dance floor were giving them a very wide berth.
"Don't come any closer, whoever you are," the blonde vampiress called to him as she squeezed her hostage's neck a little harder.
Wait a sec. I know that voice! Xander moved into the normal light, and out from the colored flashing spotlights. "Harmony, is that you?"
The female vampire looked over, as she dragged her hostage closer. "Xander Harris?! Since when are you back in the U.S.? Last I heard, you went to England..."
Xander took a casual stance and shrugged. Hoping he could get closer to her as they talked, he said simply, "Yeah, well, people I was working for tried to kill me, so I had to leave. Oh, I did get to know the new Slayer though."
Harmony rolled her eyes. "Oh, God, another one!? Jeez, what is that? Four that you've known? No offence, but I'm going to have to kill her, you know..."
"Oh, I know. You're a vampire, she's the Slayer. Goes with the job. So, I guess we ain't doing another bitch-slap hair-pulling fight to settle this, huh?"
The former cheerleader shook her head. "With this many people watching? Please! I do have a rep to maintain..."
"You do?" he asked, surprised.
"Well, there's this really old vampire that runs most of lower LA, and it's a girl," the blonde complained.
"Ah," Xander said in understanding. "So you can't sleep your way to the top with her like you did with the football team way back when, huh?"
"No," Harmony answered, annoyed. "She expects me to earn my place! Since when do I have to do that?! I was sired on the Hellmouth, for God's sake; you think that would be worth something? But, nooo..."
At that moment, her hostage spoke up. "Um, excuse me, but if you guys are just going to chit-chat, ya think you could maybe let me go?"
Both Xander and Harmony then looked at who it was she had grabbed. "Andy Dick!?" they both said at the same time.
Andy just weakly waved his hand, "Ah, yep, that's me."
Harmony looked disgusted. "Oh, great! Normally you want to grab a hostage that they don't want to see die..."
Xander shook his head. "Oh, come on Harm! He was okay on 'News Radio'."
"No he wasn't! I mean, my God – did you see the episode when he got the Dilbert obsession?"
Xander sadly nodded. "I hate to say it, Andy, but she does have a point with that one."
"Hey!" Andy yelled. "I did have my own show on MTV!"
That made Harmony groan. "And bringing up that crap-fest is supposed to save your life here?"
Xander moved up while she was distracted, taking out a tiny bottle of holy water from his jacket. "Well, Harm, that one episode where he did a rip-off of that one fear show from MTV – that was kind of good."
"True," the vampire shrugged. "But do you really think that this idiot wrote it?"
This caused Andy to yell again, "Hey! For your information, I do have a part in a new movie coming out."
Harmony looked back at him, giving Xander his chance. "Again, do you think that helps you in any wa...." She then screamed, as the water splashed her face.
Xander grabbed Andy's arm, and yanked him away. Harmony just looked at her former classmate, "What the hell did you do that for?!"
"Sorry, Harm. But I'm one of the good guys, it's kinda part of the job." He moved towards the blonde bloodsucker, but she grabbed a girl and threw her into him, causing them both to go to the floor. And when he got up, Harmony was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it!" Xander said to himself. "At least, no one saw me let Harmony get away..."
He then groaned, when the man heard a sharp voice from behind him. "Why did you let her go?!"
Captain Harris turned to see Cordelia Chase walking towards him. "Ah, Cordy, so this is the club you and your friends were going to? Anyone hurt?"
The woman waved him off, "Don't try to change the subject, doofus! You let Harmony get away!"
He thought frantically, "Ah...I actually wanted to let you be the one to stake her, now that she's in LA?"
Cordelia glared at him for a few moments, making his squirm. "That's bull, and you know it!"
Her face then changed to a grin, "But it'll do for now." Cordelia grabbed his arm and pulled him to her, moving in for a long kiss. When they broke apart she asked, "So, do you have a little time to stick around?"
He nodded. "Good. My friends want to meet you," the future TV star commented.
As Xander followed her to the stairs, Cordy leaned in and whispered, "There's a male model up there, in a blue shirt. When we go by, just give him a good pissed-off death glare."
"Why?"
"Just do it. I wanna see if he wets his pants..."