Title: Bite Me
Author: DazedConfused
Rating: 15/18 (UK), 17 (US)
Show: Buffy TVS
Who's In It: Mainly Cordy but Xander, Buffy and Willow come a joint second and Oz is in it briefly too.
Feedback: YES PLEASE
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or any of the characters created by Joss Whedon. This is an original idea based around Joss's creations.
Spoilers: This is set during season 3, sometime after "Lover's walk" so if you haven't seen past then you might not want to read any further.
Summary: Cordy is trying to come to terms with her breakup with Xander, but after a car accident her love life is the least of her problems.
Notes: Just a warning but there is a torture scene which some readers might find distressing. Before anyone say's it I realize that if this happened then Buffy and Angel would be completely different.
Bite MeSunnydale High School had finished for the day and most of its pupils had long since escaped. A few stragglers still remained; one such student was Xander Harris who was strolling down the hallway towards the library when he spotted Cordelia Chase by her locker. He thought about going another way to the library but he didn't see why he should, he straightened up from his usual slouching posture as he walked up to his former girlfriend, ready for the onslaught to begin.
Cordelia paused with her hand reaching out to her locker, although she could see a shape out of the corner of her eye it was more of a sixth sense that made her know it was Xander. She turned to face him, tilting her chin up, a phony smile fixed on her face and a flash of anger in her eyes.
"Well if isn't Xander Harris," She said narrowing her eyes as he looked at her.
"Cordy…hi" Xander said looking like a deer caught in headlights.
Suddenly seeing him so close made Cordelia wished that she had ignored him; being this close to Xander brought all the pain to the surface. "Yeah what ever. Run along" Cordelia said rolling her eyes and giving a dismissive wave of her hand, acting as if she couldn't care less about what Xander did.
Xander felt his blood rising but instead of lashing out he gave a deep sigh remembering in his head the look on Cordelia's face when she had caught him and Willow together and thinking of all the pain he had caused her.
"Look Cordy, I know that I hurt you…I'm sorry but just because your hurting doesn't mean you have to lay-into me every time we speak, we could…talk about what happen." Xander said trying to sound adult-like and reasonable but knowing he wasn't pulling it off.
"You never hurt me Xander, so don't ever think you did. I say what ever I want to you because YOU – DON'T – MATTER to me" Cordy said, she had said the same words over and over in her head but now saying them out loud to Xander's face she knew that it was a lie, she hated to admit but a part of her still felt something for him.
"Un hur." It was all Xander could manage; the force behind her words had frozen his brain.
"Another witty comeback, how do you keep doing it?" said Cordelia her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Bite me," snapped Xander, his brain being to thaw.
"What are you twelve now?" the disgust and disdain she felt showing in her voice.
"No really bite me," Xander said earnestly, now his brain had been defrosted and nuked cooked "the pain might distract me from your constant Bitchiness" He finished the earnestness replaced with anger and scorn.
"Are you calling me a bitch?" Cordelia asked, unable to believe that Xander had called her anything vicious after she had let him drool on her enough times.
"Are you gonna say your not?" Xander said pretending to be genuinely shocked.
Aware of some remaining student bodies milling around the hall attracted to their raised voices, Cordelia thought it was best to stick with the Queen Bee routine that had gotten her this far in life. She knew at times she was a bitch, every one in school knew it, so if they saw her acting like her old self then maybe things might get back to normal.
"Of course I'm a bitch," she said, placing a hand on her hip.
"Ha ha, you admit it" Xander said pointing a finger at her, as if he had got a mastermind criminal to confess – which he felt like he had.
"Stop pointing at me special ED boy "she said knocking away his pointing finger as she spoke "every one knows I'm a bitch. It's what makes me who I am, without it I'll be reject like you" The air seemed to turn colder and they both felt the tension grow.
"Maybe you was the all-powerful Bitch of Sunnydale High once but lately you've just one of the masses." Stated Xander seriously before he turned to go but thought of one last piece of ammo to use against her. "And I might be a reject but I'm a reject with friends, can you say the same". Xander carried on walking to the library, wishing he hadn't just called himself and his friends rejects.
Cordy watched him go, feeling her face burn with anger and humiliation. She looked around to see how many people had caught the free show, thankfully most of them had gone but two girls had seen everything and as they walked away from her she could hear them laughing. It would probably be around the school in no time and Cordelia frowned just thinking about it.
It wasn't fair, he had been the one to betray her and yet she was the one who kept suffering. She had lost her boyfriend, her part in the Scooby gang and when she had tried to go back to her old friends she found she couldn't.
Her old friends the 'Cordettes' acted as if she was tainted because of her involvement with Xander and his friends and because of her years of verbally abusing the student population she found it hard to make any new friends. It seem that without her clique she didn't have power and that meant she didn't have control over anyone, so she couldn't even force someone into a fake shallow friendship with her.
She still helped out with all the Demons & Vamps; she found that she couldn't stop. Before Xander she had been very self-involved but that wasn't her true nature that was just a way for her to survive. Being apart of the Scooby gang had proved that she didn't have to be shallow to have friends, even if the Cordettes had taken her back would she have been any happier? Now that she knew bad stuff was out there she wanted to do her part but because of what had happen things between her, Xander and Willow were strained. Cordy snapped back to reality and got her books out of her locker and headed to her car, tonight she was taking a night off from things that went bump in the night.
"Let the Slayer do her own job without these extra pair of well looked after, manicured hands for help" Cordy thought as she headed out of the School.
It was getting towards dusk as Cordy hurried to her car and produced her cars keys from her purse. She doubted that any Vamps were waiting near by to pounce when the sun went down.
The Sunnydale High had become a lot safer from Vampires once word got round that the slayer went to school there, still there was always the odd stupid I-want-to-take-over-the-world Vamps that didn't get the memo.
She got safely in her car, buckled up and put her bag and purse on the passenger seat. She sat for a second and thought of the time she had spent in this very car with Xander and felt a familiar ache in her chest.
'No, No, No, I'm not going to do this to myself' She thought, pushing the memories away and settled her attention on driving. She drove out of the school parking lot and towards home, still she kept thinking of Xander. It wasn't just the good-times they had shared in various enclosed spaces it was all the bad things he had ever said about her. Most of them had been said before they had gotten together and she had always given as good as she got, in fact she usually started in on him first. But she could still remember a few of the names and descriptions he had called her, maybe that was why he turned to Willow? Maybe he never even liked her, he was just using her for make-out sessions and then he found out he could have Willow who was all nice and Sandra-Dee like for him.She needed to stop thinking about all this before it drove her insane. She reached forward and switched on the radio, some woman was singing about her ex. 'Great just what I need some angry chick music'.
Cordy bobbed her head to the beat and tapped her fingers against the wheel, it had gotten dark pretty fast and she leaned down and switched on her lights. She was driving through a deserted looking suburban area of Sunnydale; in this town it was an unspoken lore not to go out after dark.
She paused at a traffic light junction and looked into the rear-view mirror, so what if she felt bad on the inside at least she could look good on the outside. She got her emergency lipstick out of the glove compartment and used the overhead mirror to apply it. The light turned green and the car behind honked its horn, flustered she started up her car, the lipstick still in her hand. The car behind her continued to honk as she moved forward at a rapid speed, she glimpsed into the rear-view mirror at the car behind.
"Yeah, yeah buddy, I'm…" Cordy turned her attention back to the road just in time to see a man crossing the road. She slammed on the brakes but it was to late, her car made contact with the man and threw him through the air. On impacted she was jerked forward, her seatbelt cutting into her shoulder and pulling tight across her chest. She sat there, her ears ringing in a world of silence. She took a deep breath and looked out through the windshield "…moving" she finished lamely. Cordy didn't know what to do, she was kind of getting use to the life and death Scooby Gang world but to be involved in a car crash felt more unreal then any of that. The car behind her that had been honking over took her and sped away, 'God real nice mister' she thought rubbing her shoulder and chest that had been bruised by the seatbelt. The sounds of normal life filtered in to her ears once again and suddenly her radio sounded too loud, she reached forward and switched it off.
The accident had seemed to last forever in her mind but in reality it probably had only been a minute or two since she had stopped at the traffic light. Suddenly coming to her senses she remembered the reason she had crashed in the first place and unbuckled her belt and opened her car door, she carefully climbed out. She felt a little wobbly and wondered if she was in shock, when she took in the man lying motionless on the road her stomach sank and she felt a whole lot worse. She was terrified to go over to the man, afraid to see what she had done to him.
"Come on Cordy you can do this" She muttered under her breathe, willing herself to be brave. She glanced up to check for any on coming cars but the roads were deserted.
She walked over and knelt down beside him, without warning a little voice chirped up reminding her of the value of the trousers that she had on and that they would get ruin if she carried on kneeling. But she wasn't listening to the voice; she was trying to remember CPR and how to put someone in the recovery position. She looked around the street it was deserted, thankfully all the houses were lit up, and maybe someone who had seen the incident was calling 911.
"Sir, Sir can you hear me Sir" Cordelia asked the man who was in his late twenties, clean-shaven and she couldn't help noticing, cute.
There was no answer from the man and so she gingerly took his pulse, there was none and his skin was all cold and clammy. Cordy's head began to be filled with images of jail and big women with buzz-cuts, she was too pretty to go to jail damn it. If she had been a cartoon character a light bulb would have appeared over her head with a ping – the man was cold and clammy. She knew that it took a body a while to get cold after death, you had to be dead along time to be this cold, which meant that this man was a….
"Oh no he's dead I better go for help" She monosyllabically said, slowly getting up off her knees.
"You're a terrible actress," the vamp said sitting up and staring at his prey.
She was about to scream, run away or both but her anger and pride got in the way.
"I am not a bad actress and what about you Mister I-Throw-myself-in-front-of-cars-to-get-some-dinner Vampire" Cordelia said accusingly with her hands on her hips.
"Lady I was crossing the street when you ran into me, you're like a bad actress and a bad driver" He told her crankily, leaning forward slightly and dusting his shirt and trousers down.
"Hey now, you just better take that back. You're the first person I've hit in like months"
"Well it doesn't matter because your gonna be dead soon anyhow" The Vamp said moving into a sitting position.
"Why…oh yeah, member of the living dead" She began to back away slowly "I'll have my insurance people call your insurance people."
"My number's 555-Gonna eat you up now" He quickly got up from the ground and as Cordy stepped back he moved forward and she let out a shriek and turned fleeing to her car. She managed to make it a few steps before the Vamp grabbed her and pulled her behind the nearest bush and into someone's front yard. Obscured from any passing motorist or anyone on the footpath the Vampire had his fill of her.
The next day at afternoon Sunnydale High was a buzz with gossip. The talk was that Cordelia Chase hadn't returned home last night and a few of her 'friends' had received phones calls from her worried parents. The rumor mill was working over time, apparently after a fight with Xander, Cordy left the school crying and it all became too much so she ran away to LA to escape seeing him everyday.
"Hey Buffy wait up" Xander called out to his friend, taking a few hurried long strides to catch up with her. Buffy turned and waited until he was by her side, then the pair carried on walking down the hall together.
"Hey Xander, what's up?" Buffy asked before smiling and adding "apart from causing Cordy to skip of to La-La Land." She glanced at her friend and stopped smiling; she looked at him for the first time properly and again stopped in her tracks. Xander skidding to a halt beside her, he wasn't looking good. He wasn't usually the guru of fashion or style but at that moment he looked two steps away from being a bum. He was pale; his hair was a mess and his clothes looked like they had been in a pile on his bedroom floor for two weeks. His eyes were red rimmed, and he had bags there was also a look of desperation in them. Buffy saw all that in one glance and grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her into a nearby empty classroom.
Inside the classroom she sat on the edge of the teachers desk and Xander stood in front of a desk on the front row opposite her, Buffy waited for Xander to speak first so when he didn't she did.
"Xander…what is it?" She asked prompting him to open up.
"It's Cordelia she's missing. She never got home last night after school, she was last seen getting in her car outside but she never reached home. They can't find her car and they've talked to all the people she is or was friends with. Buff…the police came to school this morning; they had talked to a few people found out about that run in I had with yesterday after school. They took me to Snyder's office to ask me a few questions, thankfully I had an alibi otherwise they would have hauled be straight off to jail…" He had rushed through it all with out hardly taking a breath and when he finished he sank miserably onto the top of one of the front row desks.
"I thought all the talk I heard about Cordelia being AWOL was just, well talk." Buffy said going over what Xander had just told her in her mind.
"Yeah well it looks like she left, I mean they can't find her or her car so unless one turns up the cops are guessing that there together. After they heard about the fight we had though of course I look like their prime target for a perp."
"Perp? One morning with the cops and your down with the lingo" Buffy mocked before getting back on track. "So who gave you your get out of jail free card?"
"Giles vouched for me. He told the cops that I was…" Xander adopted a British accent whilst repeating what Giles had said "…a decent respectable young man you had offered to help him sought through a new shipment of books and organize them." Xander cut the accent before continuing. "He told them I was in the library for most of the evening, which was true. Anyway the cops seemed satisfied enough."
"I know your worried Xander" Buffy said going over to her friend and rubbing the top of his left arm gently "but Cordelia is probably lying low somewhere, I think finding out about you and Willow and landing in hospital all in one night was pretty rough on her."
"Yeah I can understand her wanting to be by herself, I can even see her missing school…but not phoning her parents and letting them worry? She knows better then that after living in Sunnydale her whole life." He shook his sadly and looked at Buffy.
"I'm sure Cordy's safe somewhere but if she is in any danger I'll find her." She gave him a reassuring hug and when she pulled back some of the worry had left his eyes. Buffy just hoped that she was right and Cordy was safe.
That night a pissed off Cordy clawed her way out of her muddy grave.
"Why the hell wasn't I in a coffin?" She said as she finally freed herself from her grave and stood up, from the shadows came a man who she recognized as the Vampire who had apparently sired her. "What the hell do you want?" Cordy asked him rubbing mud from off her body.
"I see being dead hasn't improved your temper," He said grinning and leaning against a nearby tree.
"Where the hell am I and why did you sire me?" Cordy demanded giving up on trying to clean her mud-caked body and clothes.
"Sire huh, your well informed…Well I liked you, your sexy, I also like women with attitudes and to tell you the truth after two decades of being a loner it would be nice to have some company" He winked at her in what he thought was an attractive way but what even vampire Cordelia just found creepy.
"I took your body and buried it myself, you see there's this girl called a Slayer and she keeps on top of the recently bitten deceased if you had been buried by your family she'd be staking you by now" He seemed pretty please with himself as he examined the nails on his left hand.
"Well I guess I owe you" Cordy said sashaying towards him.
"Well it looks like you have a life time to pay me back," He said grinning at her, radiating smugness.
Cordelia stood in front of him and rested her body against his, she leaned in and the two vampires began to kiss. Whilst the male vamp groped her behind, Cordelia reached up her right arm and pulled off a thick branch that was hanging over them. With her new Vampire speed she pulled back from her maker and plunged the tree branch into his chest before he knew what had hit him.
"Why did you do that?" He asked staring at the piece of tree sticking out of him, Cordy hadn't staked anyone with a tree limb before and had missed the heart by an inch or so.
"Why? Because you turned me into Vampire…I'll have to say a teenager for ever" she paused and thought that over "actually thanks for that but look at my clothes there's blood and dirt all over them" Before he could respond she yanked off another tree branch and then plunged it in a few inches away from the other one, this time hitting his heart causing the male vampire to explode into dust.
"Looks like I'm a bigger bitch now then when I was alive," She informed the dust swirling into the air.
Cordy looked around, she was in a backyard with an eight-foot fence running around the perimeter. The house was lit up and the kitchen door stood ajar. She moved closer and peered through the door, from the gap she could see into the kitchen and the dead bodies of a family sprawled across the floor. She remembered listening to Giles prattle on about how a vampire can only enter a house if they're invited or if the owner is dead (or like Sunnydale High it actually said Welcome above the door).
Cordy stepped inside the house and walked cautiously around the bodies of two adults and a teenager. The male vamp must have killed the family so he would have a place to bury her out of the way. Blood, blood, everywhere, suddenly she had a wonderful idea.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" Xander's father said in reply to the constant rapping at the door, he checked through the keyhole and decided it was safe to answer.
"What do you want?" He asked angry at being interrupted whilst watching TV.
"Hi Mr. Harris, I was wondering if I could speak to Xander" Cordy asked oozing charm and sweetness.
"Xander's upstairs" he looked at the young girl and then out at the black night behind her "you'd better come in" he said sounding put out.
"Why thank you" Cordelia said, as she stepped across the fresh hold her face morphed into it's vampire face. The look of surprise and fright etched on to his face made her feel dizzy with power, she grabbed him by the throat so he couldn't scream and with her free hand she slammed the door shut behind her.
"Xander, Xander wake up" heard Xander as he awoke from a light sleep.
"Mom?" He asked still groggy, moving a textbook off his chest.
"Hardly" Cordy said laughing as Xander sprung up in his bed and stared at her.
"Cordelia, what are you doing here, where have you been?" Xander sat up and rested his back against his headboard and watched as Cordy sat down next to him on his bed; although he wanted to know the answer to the questions he had asked a part of him was still thinking 'there is a girl on my bed'.
"Well after we saw each other in the hall I left and on my way home I was in a car accident"
"What! Are you alright?" He interrupted
"Fine, fine but the accident made me think and so I took off for while to try and sort myself out. I decided that you were right about what you said, about us talking things out" She tried her best to look all innocent.
"Your parents were worried, they called the cops who came into school, they question me for an hour. Buffy even went out searching for you, we thought that something bad had happened" Xander said.
"What I need to talk about is us everything else can wait, I wanted you to know that I know it wasn't all your fault, Willow seduced you and you were to just to weak, like all men are" A hard quality had entered her voice.
"What are you talking about, Willow never seduced me what happened between us was mutual" said Xander, he felt uneasy talking about it so openly with Cordelia and absently mindedly pushed his hair back out of his eyes.
"Xander, don't worry you don't have to protect her. She's going to pay for taking you from me, of course you'll have to pay too because you cheated on me, sorry" She spoke as if she was rehearsing a cheer, full of pep and cheeriness.
"Cordy have you lost the plot or is this some lame attempt to scare me?"
"No, you see Xander" at this point she began to stroke his right cheek gently "I left out one thing that happened to me" Her face changed to show her true nature and Xander let out a terrified scream as she grabbed him by the hair and banged his head against the wall behind his bed.
Xander opened his eyes and cringed as the pain his head flared up, he felt a little dazed and when he tried to move he found he couldn't. After a few seconds of confusion he realized that he was in fact tied to a dinning room chair. The table had been moved from the center of the room to rest against a wall, the four dinning chairs were position in a semi circle facing the table. His parents were both tied up in chairs, with tape over their mouths as he was. Both were awake and staring at him fearfully, when he looked over at them and they realized he was okay Xander could see the relief in their eyes. 'Nothing like a homicidal ex-girlfriend vampire to make a family come together' Xander thought, trying his best to smile at his parents through the tape that covered his mouth.
"At last your awake" Cordy said coming into the room and jumping on to the table, she sat crossed legs surveying her audience making sure they were paying attention.
"Now Xander I have a phone call to make and after our special dinner guest has arrived we can all eat" She leapt off the table and sauntered over to between his parents she placed a hand on the top of their heads.
"These are going to be the appetizers, Willow is going to be the main course" She strolled over to Xander and sat in his lap "and you are going to be desert"
"Bitch" Xander said but because of the tape it came out all muffled.
Cordelia yanked the tape of his mouth causing Xander to wince but he refrained from crying out.
"Look I know your evil vampire girl now but please let my parents go and leave Willow out of this"
"And why should I?" She whispered into his left ear before licking it and then sucking on the lobe.
"Because you know that if you kill me and Willow you'll be signing your own death warrant. Buffy, Giles, Oz, Angel they'll all come after you and against one of them you wouldn't stand a chance but with all of them out to get you you'll be dead by sunrise"
"Look Xander all of this is your fault, so whilst you sit here and wait to watch your parents and Willow die you can think about that. Think how they're all going to die because of you, that I'm doing this all because of you" She put the tape back over his mouth roughly.
Cordelia rose from his lap and left the room, she smirked as soon as her back was turned. Now Xander would feel all guilty and torn up inside until he was literally torn up inside.
She picked up the phone and dialed Willows number; it rang for five minutes before a sleepy sounding Willow answered.
"Hello"
"Hey Will, Cordy here"
"Cordelia is that you? Where are you, are you ok? Why you calling so late? Are you in trouble" By the end of her sentence Willow had begun to sound more alert.
"It's not that late, it's only like eleven thirty. Look Will I'm at Xander's and we need you to come over"
"You're at Xander's? And you want me to come over now, at this time of night" Willow asked.
"Look Will it's really important, you see a few days ago Xander said that we should talk about what happened and I finally said yes but you see we both think that you should be here too, so we can all clear the air"
"Cordy I really want to make things right but it's so late and we have school tomorrow" Willow mumbled, feeling tired and her idea of fun wasn't sitting in between Xander and Cordy and talking about their weird triangle of love.
"Look Will after everything you've done to me don't you thing you owe me this much?" Cordy tired not to laugh down the phone as she acted all earnest and victim like.
"When you put it like that…" Willow trailed off feeling at once guilty and like a super-tramp "but since it's so late do you think you can pick me up?"
"Sorry no can do, I was in an accident and my car got totaled"
"Gee Cordy, are you all right" Willow said causing Cordelia to loose impatience.
"Look Willow" she snapped and then catching herself in time she continued calmly "Just please get over to Xander's as fast as you can, we're in the dinning room". And with that she put the phone down.
"Hello" Willow called as she opened the unlocked door and walked into Xander's house, she usually felt right at home here but tonight – or nearly early morning as it was going to be midnight soon – she felt a few goose bumps on her arms.
"In here Will" Cordy shouted out from the back of the house, Willow walked back to the dinning room expecting to see a tired looking Xander and Cordelia trying to sort out and come to terms with there relationship. Instead as she opened the door and was greeted by darkness, she could see only a few darken shapes.
"Xander?" Willow said uncertainly, in response was Xander's muffled voice.
At that moment Cordelia came from behind her and pushed her easily to the ground, Willow tried to fight back and screamed helplessly as Cordy pulled a piece of tape off a roll and tacked in firmly over Willow's mouth. Willow still struggled as Cordy dragged her to an empty chair and pulled her on to the seat, quickly she tied Willows right arm to the back right leg and the same with her left, she tied her ankles to each front chair leg. Once Willow was secured Cordy went over and switched on the light. Everyone except Cordy flinched as the light came on, they blinked a few times and then they're eyes took in each other making sure they were all still alive.
Xander look sadly over at Willow telling her he was sorry with his eyes, she understood immediately and looked reassuringly back at him. Cordy smiled at her work so far but in four hours or so it would be dawn and she wanted to be gone by then, Xander was right Buffy wouldn't stop until who ever killed her friends were dead, hopefully Buffy would think that she had been casualty too and that way she could disappear into the night. But before she did it was time to have a little fun.
"So now our guest has arrived we can start with dinner"
Cordelia untied Xander's father and pushed him against the side of the table "Get on it and lay down" she said in a threatening tone. Xander's father was petrified but did as Cordelia demanded, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling. The others could see the sweat drawing on his forehead and the small quivers of fright that passed through his body.
Xander had never really gotten a long with his father but that didn't mean he wanted to sit and watch what ever Cordy was about to do. Cordelia fasten Mr. Harris to the table using thick rope, each limb was tied to a leg table and the finished result held a slight resemblance to Jesus Christ upon the Cross. His father had struggled a few times but Cordy easily subdued him, when he was finely restraint she got up on the table and straddle Xander's father across the waist.
With her right hand she forced him to turned his neck so he was looking towards the others, then Cordy bent forward and bit into the right side of his neck. His wife began crying, Willow shut her eyes and Xander tried to free himself from his bonds. When she had drank a mouth full she sat up, throwing her head back, her Vampire face on display as she licked the blood from her top fangs.
Xander's father was still conscious and was looking at them in misery, Cordy licked her lips and looked over at Xander to make sure he was enjoying the show. She picked something off the top of the table, which no one had noticed before now - it was a carving knife. She played with it in her hands, running a finger up and down the long sharp blade. She watched gleefully as Xander's father's eyes widen in horror and his heartbeat quicken. He tried to say something but the tape meant he couldn't be heard, his face was dangerously red as he tried to pull his arms free.
"If I was you I would be very still" Cordelia said leaning forward menacingly.
Xander's father squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, realizing that all he could do was lay still, so he forced himself to lay as still as he could.
"Good boy" Cordy purred. She grabbed his plaid shirt on both sides and pulled them in opposite directions, the buttons popped as the shirt easily ripped under her strength. She threw the now rags of cloth to the ground and began to trail the knife up and down his torso. "Where, oh where to start" She pondered looking over the meaty flesh quivering beneath her. The old man was now drenched in sweat and look to Xander twice as old.
"I think, here," Cordelia said, bringing the knife to a stop at the top of his arm. She held the knife as if she was indeed about to cut into a turkey, she began to saw into his arm.
His cries were muffled but still loud, his wife fainted and Willow not being able to stand it squeezed her eyes shut and looked away. Only Xander watched as he fought to free himself, he felt as if he owed it to his father to watch. They're eyes met and the pain his father's eyes was unbearable but Xander kept his eyes locked with his father's, he wanted to turned away badly but he just couldn't.
She cut not down to the bone but lengthways along to his elbow, when she was done she held up the carved piece of Xander's fathers flesh above her head and tilted her head back and dropped the meat into her mouth, chewed it quickly. When Cordelia had finished chewing she leant forward and put her mouth to the wound and began to nibble and chew on it like a cat, Xander felt the vomit rise and fill his mouth, not wanting to choke he gulp it back down.
She sat back up, blood and flesh around her mouth, as she went to slice another piece of skin off him his heart rate went through the roof and his body broke out into a cold sweat. As Cordelia realized what was happening she got off the man and watched his breath become short.
"Just when we were having some fun he goes and has a heart attack, oh well I'll just start over on the other one" She spoke flippantly and without remorse, Xander had never wanted to hurt someone so much as he did at that moment. He watched as Cordy cut the ropes that had tethered his father to the table and then standing by the table near his head she pulled him by his shoulders on to the ground, dumping him on the floor as if he was just a sack of garbage.
As Cordelia untied Xander's mom from her chair the woman came to and look at the empty table and then at her husband lying on the floor. She wouldn't walk and she shook her head madly, a wild look in her eyes but Cordy easily out powered her and simply shoved her forward to the side of the table. She picked Xander's mother up and dumped her on the table easily, she tried to escape but Cordy put one hand on her chest and that kept her firmly in place as Cordy tied one arm. She tied the other limbs and climbed on top of Xander's mother and she was just about to rip of the older woman's blouse when the dinning room window exploded inwards.
Buffy came sailing through the window, in mid air she somersaulted and landed in-between the tied up Xander and the Surprised Cordy who was still straddling Mrs. Harris.
"I know I wasn't invited to your little dinner party but I thought I'd crash" Buffy said standing in the stock slayer kick butt stance, with Mr. Pointy in her clenched hand.
"Don't worry Buff, I can always set an extra place for you" Cordy said jumping off the table with her right leg out, she kicked and hit Buffy squarely in the jaw with the heel of her boot. Buffy was thrown backwards and landed on to Xander; the impact knocked him and the chair he was tied to over, the chair braking from the fall. As Buffy tucked and rolled backwards then stood, Xander found himself free of the chair and his bonds. He hurried over to his father to check for a pulse, it was there but faint.
Buffy and Cordy were fighting; Buffy clearly had the edge, after all Cordy was still learning to deal with her vampire strengths. Pushing around Xander and his family was one thing – fighting with a super strong Slayer was another.
As soon as Buffy had gotten up after landing on Xander, Oz had climbed in through the shattered window and gone straight to Willow. He untied her hands first and as he worked the rope around her legs free she ripped the tape off her mouth.
"You okay" He asked placing a soft hand against her cheek after the two had stood and moved away from the fight and towards Xander, Willow still had the image of Cordy vamped faced and all cutting into Mr. Harris and she felt like burying her head into Oz's chest but knew it wasn't the time or the place.
"I will be, help Mrs. Harris out of here and then phone for an ambulance…incase"
"Incase?" Oz asked
"Incase I can't help Xander's dad" Oz looked at the old man on the floor and nodded in agreement, he slid his hand down her cheek and then away he went to untie Mrs. Harris. Willow rushed to Xander's side and dropped on to her knees, she pulled back Xander who was trying to stop the blood from his father's neck and shoulder.
"What are you gonna do CPR or something?" Xander shakily asked as his eyes darted from his father to his mother, who was being help out of the room my Oz.
"Or something" Willow replied, before Xander could ask anything further Willow placed her hands palm down over Mr. Harris's chest and began muttering words under her breath. A white light began to shine brightly from the palms of her hands; she directed the light on to Xander's father. It seemed not to land on his body but sink in to his skin and glow from underneath it, as Xander watched his father's pulse quicken and colour began to return to his skin. Then the light was gone and Willow sagged backwards and Xander moved to catch her, she was weak now and felt tired and drained. His father's wounds had partially healed and he looked a hell of a lot better.
Back with Cordy and Buffy, Cordy had survived this long out of luck more then strength and she knew it. Buffy meanwhile was having a hard time fighting Cordelia, true they never had seen eye to eye on a lot of things but for while they had hung out and fought side by side more then once, she wasn't giving all she had to the fight, but kept Cordelia busy so the others could get out of harms way.
Oz reappeared in the doorway and hurried passed the fighting Slayer and Vamp to his girlfriend.
"She okay" Oz asked Xander as he lowered to one knee and wrapped an arm around Willow's waist.
"I think so, she saved my dad" Awe filled Xander's voice.
"He lost a lot of blood and I think his body's in shock but I helped his heart to stabilized, his breathing will get better soon" Willow said her voice coming out low and shaky.
"We should get out of here," Oz said looking over at the fighting duo.
"You two go, I'll stay with my parents and Buffy" Xander said.
"Your mom's out cold on the couch and I phoned for an ambulance it's on it's way" Oz said.
"You better take Willow home, it'll look better with less people involved"
Oz nodded in agreement and with Oz and Xander on either side of Willow the three stood as one, with both men's arms around her waist helping to hold her up. For a instant it felt strange for Willow to have both of them so close, their arms linking around her waist…she had been through so much with both of them but before she could name whatever it was she was feeling she felt weak and groggy again and sagged between her two supporters letting them take her weight. Xander walked them to the front door then high tailed it back to the dinning room, checking briefly on his mother on the way.
Xander squatted back down next to his father; he looked up and watched Buffy punch Cordelia in the face and then Cordelia punch Buffy in the ribs. The room looked like a bombsite, practically all the furniture was in pieces and a few old family photos that had been hung on the wall where now lying smashed on the floor.
Buffy backed flipped and when doing so she kicked Cordy in the head with each of her feet. Cordy was knocked back against the wall, leaving a dent in it, her back slipped down the wall and she sat on the floor still and unmoving.
Buffy watched her for a moment and when Cordy didn't move she turned to Xander.
"Maybe we could lock her up in the library? Giles could fine a way to return her soul or …"
She didn't get to finish this sentence as Cordy jumped up from her docile position and went to attack Buffy.
"Buffy look out" Xander cried and he watched as Buffy spun around to her left whist thrusting her arm out, hitting Cordelia hard in the chest with her stake.
Cordelia Chase looked surprised and amazed before she exploded into dust.
"Is that it, is it over?" Xander asked running a hand through his hair.
"I guess it is" Buffy replied solemnly. The two could have been talking about the fight or Xander and Cordy's relationship.
"That was a hell of a break up, I guess with living on a Hellmouth we might as well get use to having these kind of relationships" Buffy said as she dropped to her knees and sat beside him. He put his head against her shoulder and Buffy wrapped an arm around him. They sat that way till the paramedics arrived.
The next morning Xander woke up in Buffy's bed, snuggled down under the duvet. Buffy and Willow were on either side of him and were sitting up and talking over him in careful whispers.
"Morning guys" Xander said rubbing the sleep from his eyes and using his elbows to shuffle up the bed.
"Well morning to you Mr. sleepy head" Willow said sounding like a female Mr. Rogers, she helped prop a pillow behind Xander as he sat up.
"How's the head?" Buffy asked tilting her own head at an angle so she could try and look at the back of his.
"Fine" He said and then looked from Buffy to Willow "Honestly I'm fine" he added softly after seeing the worried expressions on their faces.
"Thanks for letting me crash at your place Buff, what with the 'rents in hospital the police wanted to make sure I had someplace safe to sleep"
"Don't worry about it, I mean when I knew you were coming I phoned Will and we decided to have a spur of the moment sleep over. Xander you didn't tell us when you got in…how are your parents?"
That was right he hadn't had he, after finishing with the cops Buffy had gone home and Xander had briefly went to the hospital to check on his parents. Afterwards he had headed to Buffy's, it turned out that an eager to see him Willow had arrived just before him (picked up and escorted by Buffy). All three were tired and at Xander's request they had all headed off to bed.
"My mom's suffering from shock she'll probably be let out in a day or two. My dad lost a lot of blood and he took a beating, he's in the ICU but if it hadn't been for Willow he could have been a lot worst" He turned his head towards Will's and gave her a warm smile, then he faced forward and a his face took on a grim expression. "It's strange that after years of wishing nasty things on my dad when it finally happened I wanted him to live"
Willow quickly spoke to change the subject "What about the police did they believe your story?"
"Yeah you know Sunnydale Cops they'll believe anything so they don't have to look into it, me and Buffy told them that we were studying late when a girl burst in and subdued us. We said that the girl was really strong and out of it, she messed with my dad and Buffy who I said knew martial arts managed to fight her and the girl ran" Said Xander.
"Yeah the cops think there looking for a hopped up junkie because the girl was so strong," Buffy added.
"What about your parents?" Willow asked Xander.
"They both had been drinking" he folded his arms across his chest "anyway and my mom passed out and after what my dad went through I don't think he'll remember much," said Xander.
"I feel bad about Cordelia's parents, they'll never know what really happen to her, they'll probably spend the rest of their lives waiting for her to come home" Willow said quietly speaking almost to herself.
The three sat in silence for a minute, all thinking about the night before.
"How did you come to the rescue Buff, did you see the Buffy Signal in the sky" Xander asked smiling at his friend.
"Actually you have Willow to thank for me showing up," Buffy said smiling across Xander at Willow.
"How did you know Will?" he asked.
"Well after I got off the phone with…Cordelia…" she paused after saying the late girl's name, still trying to come to terms with her death "…I had this weird feeling and with it being late I called Oz and asked him to drive me. When we got to your house I told him that I would wave to him to let him know that everything was all right."
"So when she didn't come back out and wave, Oz went over to the house to check it out, he told me that he looked through the window and saw you all tied up. That's when he sped over to my place and drove me back over to yours" Buffy said finishing the story for Willow.
"I guess I owe Oz a juicy bone next time he wolf's out" Xander said to Willow, who grinned back.
Again they sat there quietly all warm and toasty under the covers, the warm sun shining through Buffy's bedroom window.
"It's so strange that she's gone" Xander said eventually, the others nodded in agreement.
"I didn't want to have to stake her but I think Cordy was gone by then, all that remained was a twisted version of her" Buffy said slowly.
"Yeah maybe, it was still her though, I mean vamp-Cordy was a Bitch and got off on hurting people which was what Cordy use to be like. I saw her in school before she vanished I think that she was still hurt over what…happen" He felt a little uncomfortable talking about it in front of Willow after such a short space of time, after all she was back with Oz now.
"You think that's why she was fixated on torturing you, because when she was turned she was full of anger and sadness from your break-up?" Willow asked him softly; knowing him so well that she knew he was probably blaming himself for Cordelia's death.
"Yeah, she said as much"
"To think Cordelia Chase is dead" Said Buffy.
"Yeah, no more being called names or being picked on because of what I wear" Said Willow somberly
"No more being called a freak" added Buffy
"No Cordy making my life a living hell" Xander finished; the three friends became suddenly quiet.
"She wasn't all bad" Willow said hastily "apart from the constant put downs and everything" she added lamely.
"She wasn't so bad towards the end," Buffy hurriedly agreed.
"She helped fight the Bad guys and save the world when she didn't really have to" Xander added and Willow nodded in agreement.
"None of us really have to fight but we do. We good, they bad, we fight" Buffy said.
"Yeah but it's part of you Buffy, you're a fighter against evil" Willow said, her voice full of pride and respect.
"I know but if it wasn't for you guys and Giles then I wouldn't have anything to remind me what I'm fighting for, without you my heart wouldn't be in it and I would have probably lost the fight a long time a go. All of us fight because we've seen the evil, we fight for one another and for those people out there" She gestured with her chin towards to window and to the world beyond it.
"Xander are you crying?" Willow asked incredulously, practically bouncing up in bed.
"No, I have allergies" He said sniffing and rubbing his left cheek against his shoulder.
"Hey kids do you want waffles!" Joyce shouted up to them.
They all answer yes as one and jumping out of bed they all headed downstairs, Willow and Buffy teasing Xander as they went.
THE END