Part 3

Cordelia woke up in a weird place.

Where am I?

She tried to move and realised that she was on a bed, her hands were tied up. Her left arm was hurting. She noticed that it was bandaged and there were bandages of replacement on a small table next to her.

Casanova came out of the shadows and announced, "I took out the piece of glass and took care of you."

"Who are you? And what am I doing here?" Cordelia asked twisting and trying to untie her bonds.

He sat on the bed. "You are with Casanova; I brought you here to teach you what true love is!"

"By going to my home and kidnapping me? I wouldn't call that love!"

"You'll understand later." He answered as he looked at her up and down. "I brought you some clothes, a dress for each occasion. You'll like them; they'll show your oh-so-perfect body to advantage." Then he stroked her cheek and went down to her chest.

She tried to get free as much as she could because of the bonds. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"Don't worry, I'll explore it later, I don't have much time now."

"Angel will kill you for this, and if I wasn't tied up, I'll take great pleasure of beginning the work." She threatened.

Casanova chuckled. "See, that's why I choose you. Well, you're a beautiful woman, which make things easier for me. But you have that force of character; you're not the kind of person who let anyone mess with you. Some men hate that in a girl, they like better the idiot ones. I don't. I'm not like the other men."

"No, really? I'm sure that there are a lot of other men out there who kidnaps women to rape and then kill them!" Cordelia in a sarcastic voice.

"Well, since you talk about it, everything is going to be alright, at one condition: Respect my rules. Don't ever call for help, you won't be heard by anyone, anyway! And no fighting's techniques with me, you might hurt yourself! Good, I have to go."

"You're going to leave me like this?" She worried.

Casanova smirked. "Of course not, I treat my girls with tenderness." He took a syringe and injected something at Cordelia, she fell asleep almost immediately. "Sleep tight gorgeous."

He untied her and left.

Alex looked around him: Wesley and Gunn had their nose in files that he had brought with him, Fred was examining the rag, and Angel was pacing.

"You should sit down, you're making me dizzy." Alex said to Angel.

"Sorry, but I can't keep still, why do we have to stay here instead of looking for her?" The vampire asked

Gunn looked up from his files. "I'd like to man, but L.A is a big city. Finding Cordy would be as hard as looking for a needle in a haystack."

"And we're not even sure that she is in L.A!" Wesley added.

"Yes, although that would astonish me if she were elsewhere, if it is any reassurance." Alex spoke.

Nick walked in.

"Alex, you're here! Sorry I couldn't come sooner, but I had a meeting. So, any news?"

"If there were, we wouldn't be here twiddling our thumbs!" Angel snapped with a scowl.

"YOU'RE twiddling your thumbs!" Gunn said, then he nodded toward another file on the table. "If you're bored... "

"Sorry, but research is not my thing, I need some action. It's usually Cordy who deals with the papers." He smiled, "we talked about it this morning." He glanced at Wesley. "She wanted me to talk to you to raise her salary. She thinks it isn't fair that she must do the drudgery when she's been here longer than you!"

"She's the secretary!" The boy from the street exclaimed.

Angel pointed with wide eyes. "She's more than that or do I have to remind you?"

Alex and Nick watched the scene as spectators, the people in front of them seemed to like Cordelia Chase very much, especially Angel.

"Since we're talking about it, we'll need a photo of Miss Chase." Alex said.

Gunn smiled. "Call her Cordelia, she'll be offended if she was here."

Alex nodded with a smile as Angel went to another room and came back a few minutes later, a framework in hand.

He handed the photo toward Alex. "It's pretty recent."

Nick came closer to see what the missing woman looked like. There were 3 people on this photo, on the left Angel, on the right Wesley and in the middle a radiant young woman. There were all grinning.

Nick hissed with admiration. "Well, seems like Casanova likes the hotties one."

Angel glared at him, he didn't know why, but he didn't like this guy at all. Fred walked in with the rag, her face was serious.

"It is Amoniant, if Cordelia did breathe it, which she probably did considering the testimony of the neighbour, she couldn't do anything, couldn't defend herself or call for help."

"She still wounded him!" Charles said.

Angel looked pissed off. "If we... WHEN we find Cordelia and that bastard, he's gonna get his damn ass kicked, I'm not even sure I'll be able to let him live!"

"We'll need to find her first! Tell me a little about Cordelia." Alex required.

Angel began. "She is... extraordinary, generous, brave, smart, nice,..."

Gunn continued, "...she's also really direct, she got a hell of a character, she says what she things, she gives tit for tat! She seems superficial at first, but when you know her, you realise that she's a wonderful woman!"

"Well, that doesn't exactly help us." Nick mumbled.

Alex ignored him. "Here is what we know: he doesn't kill them by chronological order. The dead young women that we found are not the first ones kidnapped."

"Then why did he kill them?" Fred frowned.

Alex said. "I've got a theory."

"Cops got theories now!" Gunn sneered.

Alex seemed vexed and quickly added, "I'm also a psychologist!" Then he went back in work-mode. "I think we're facing a collector: he likes them, he selects them, young, beautiful, intelligent,… The only problem is that some of them are rebellious."

"I bet the three dead women were." The former Watcher guessed.

Nick nodded. "Bingo."

Alex continued, "I think they did something displeasing to him, so displeasing that he killed them. But to punish them, see the cut hair is proving it. Naomi is a rebellious too. I pray to God that she won't provoke him."

"Do you think Cordelia is in danger?" Angel asked the worry clear in his voice.

"I don't know. I don't know her. Is it like her to disobey, provoke, revolt, or do exactly as she pleases?"

Angel's team looked at each other with a dark air. They all knew the sharp character of their friend.