Chapter 15

The others all ran into her bedroom as soon as they heard Cordelia scream, what had Angelus done in there? As soon as Fred arrived she glanced around the room and her face went ashen white and suddenly she rushed to the bathroom slamming the door behind her as she ran to the toilet but her retching could still be heard.

Cordy's face was pale as she looked around her bedroom, puppies had been nailed to the wall in a heart shape with a picture of Angel and Cordy and in her arms a baby Connor, even in this picture you could see how the two of them felt about each other by the way they smiled at each other and Angelus had turned it into something else by pining it to the centre of the grotesque heart.

The bed was covered in rose petals which in any other circumstance would have been romantic but on the centre was a drawing of Connor and across it was written Daddy's little boy, a small knife lay next to it with blood all over it, blood was also sprayed across the rose petals making a pattern and in between the knife and the drawing was a polaroids of a girl her face full of terror and next to that was one after her throat had been slit, a neatly had written message was beneath them.

Cordy,

I found a substitute but that is nothing better than the real thing. See you real soon.

Angelus

The bathroom door opened and out walked Fred her face pasty looking and she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, her eyes stayed trained on the floor, she didn't want to look up, she couldn't Fred knew that she would be ill again. All the Texan wanted was to leave the room, she didn't think she would ever be able to come back here again and she was sure that the others felt the same.

Her heart went out to Cordelia not only had Angelus ruined the memory of her home but was also making a joke out of how Angel and Cordy felt about each other. He knew her too well and knew which strings to pull. She had heard stories about him but nothing could prepare them for the truth. He was something that had to be experienced to understand the true evil that he was.

"Are you ok?" Gunn asked her and she nodded afraid to say a word all she wanted to do was get out of there. Duncan didn't move he stared at the picture they all turned to her and knew that it did look like her, Buffy knew what it had been like to be stalked by Angelus, she knew what Cordelia was going through. She wanted to help but knew there was nothing she could say or do.

Tears formed in the slayers eyes he had gone again seeing all of this brought the reality home to her, they had to try and get him back if they could. Methos walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. It woke Cordelia out of shock, her face paled even more, if it was possible, when it suddenly hit her what Angelus was planning to do.

"Oh my god Connor." She remembered when she came to say goodbye and help him back on to the right track she had asked about Connor and why no one else remembered him Angel had told her everything, they needed to find him and there was only one place that would have it Wolfram and Hart.

Cordy would have to explain to them all about Connor and what had happened, they would be angry at Angel and when they got him back she knew that he would be in for a rough time with it, he had his friends memories wiped about something important, about their family. "We have to get to Wolfram and Hart now." With that she rushed out the door closely followed by everyone else, all of their faces were covered with confusion but if Cordy knew something they didn't she would tell them eventually and maybe it would be something they could use.

The door slammed closed behind them and the bedroom door soon followed it. Dennis had been there all the time but had been unable to stop the vampire by the time he had realised what was going on it had been too late.

The Scourge of Europe had been busy but he still had some many things to do but first things first Angelus found a place to hide, the manager had wanted too much money for staying in this disgusting hotel, it was worse then Cordelia's first apartment and the price was outrageous but he managed to persuade the manager to let him have it for nothing.

The vampire licked his lips and looked down at the body on the floor and started to hum softly to himself, happy at what he had managed to accomplish in such a short period of time he would have to get rid of the body soon or find somewhere else to stay but at least he wasn't hungry anymore and now he could plan.

Let the games begin. So he sat in the small dark dingy hotel room, he would get back to his own hotel soon enough maybe quicker then he thought, once he had gathered what he needed, a smile appeared on his face, oh he could be patient that was one of his virtues and they would all pay especially Cordelia.

He pulled out a knife from its sheaf and looked at it, watching the light from the bulb above him catch it every so slightly, watching they way the metal glinted, the way it called to him. He rubbed his finger up and down the serrated edge, it caught his finger and sliced deeply into the flesh the blood started to pool around the cut and then slowly drip down the side of his finger and onto the floor, he raised the throbbing finger to his face and he put the digit into his mouth and started to suck slowly feeling the blood drop onto his tongue, the sweetest taste, his ambrosia and then he thought about the person who he was going to use it on.

Cordy, he was going to break it in with her and it was only going to be used on her, she was special and he didn't want anything to ruin it, it was going to be perfect, Angelus' mouth watered at the thought of her body beneath his, the screams coming from her mouth, he groaned at the image of the knife entering her body and how sweet her blood was going to taste, the finest wine, would immortal blood taste any different? He looked forward to finding out and then he laughed at that thought.

"My dear, dear Cordy. I am going to take what you promised me last time when I was in that cage it would have been so good and this time there'll be nothing that can stop me, nothing you can do. I am going to know your body inside and out and then I am going to see how much punishment it can take. But first of all let's see how long it takes for me to destroy your mind" Angelus stood and started to pace the small room one side to the next and then back, avoiding the large body on the floor.

He could see her clearly in his mind. "I don't mind you betraying the soul, but you betrayed me and I can let you get away with that now can I. I have a reputation to keep" He continued to mumble to himself. He could feel all the blood rushing south at the thought of what he was going to do to her, he could feel the excitement within him, the pure enjoyment of playing with her mind then her body.

"Now that is what you call a real turn on." He said silkily. "But now is not the time for you my love you will be last you will see them all be tortured and die one by one, you will be begging me to kill you. The memories of what I do to them will haunt your every."

He looked down at his watch and smiled she should have received his gift by now, he hoped that she liked it he had worked hard to get it perfect and to find the right girl he remembered seeing her for the first time and knowing that she was perfect and when he grabbed her watching her eyes go wide with fear, he could still feel it emanating her, he could taste it in his mouth, it was so sweet, there was nothing in the world like it, and then she saw the knife and he could see the realisation in her eyes that there was no escape, her whole body had frozen her eyes fixed on the glinting metal and he had to prolong it, the wait of the first slit, watching the life leave her eyes was intoxicating.

The smell of the blood enveloped his senses, he let her body go and it fell to the ground and he placed a bowl right near the wound so it would catch the blood, he still managed to get some on his hands and oh licking it off was so sweet, so pleasurable and then he took the picture, she was the spitting image of Cordelia or would have been from a distance and he was lucky that he found her so quickly someone had been looking after him but she didn't have the same energy, the same light about her and definitely didn't have the curves but it was the best he could come up with a such short notice, it had all started.

The game had begun, the thrill of the chase, the cat and mouse moves. He loved being a predator and loved watching the prey trying to escape. He hadn't felt this good in a long time. Rubbing his hands together he left the hotel room. Closing the door behind him

"So much to do and so little time." He murmured to himself as he left the hotel aware of the women staring at him, he turned and winked at them, they had heard his name when he arrived and when they saw the hotel manage leave to show him his room they knew that it was probably going to be the last they saw of him.

Angelus' evil was of mythic proportions just as Angel's good deeds were, but the soul would not rip them to shreds, or torture them slowly if you didn't do what he asked the demon would so everyone who had heard of Angelus would bow down to whatever he wanted, unless they had no brains but that didn't matter they wouldn't last that long and that meant that someone else got away with not being dinner.