Arezue; Desire

Chapter Twelve: The Breaking Point

Recap:

"You act like you're all freaked by her – " Cordelia was cut off.

"Who's freaking dad out this time?" Connor asked.

"That would be me." Arezue stood at the top of the stairs in nothing but Angel's sweatshirt, toweling her hair off. "So, you must be Angel's latest accident." She glanced disdainfully at him, not even bothering to hide what she thought of him at the moment.

"Winifred, weren't you going to let me borrow something to wear?"

Angel shot up in shock. He'd known they would probably meet up one day, had anticipated it, but – he'd never actually gone as far to expect it to happen. It was one of those surreal moments where you feel like you're watching someone else – except that someone else is you. And now - it was Angel.

"Uh, hi." He stared at her for a moment, then clamped his hands over Connor's eyes. Connor was gawking!

"Hey!" Connor indignantly tried to pry his hands off but Angel refused to move them. He had no intention of letting the child he'd damned dechastise his son. It was kind of like poetic justice in a way.

"Arezue, put something on!" They both froze the moment the words had left his mouth. Arezue. He'd refused to ever call her that – had said that as long as she was his daughter, the name he'd given her would suffice.

Arezue swallowed hard as she stared back at Angel. She wanted to cry – he was throwing her away as if she was a broken toy that he'd gotten bored off.

Instead she rolled her eyes at him, letting Angel know that she didn't give a damn as to his theatrics.

It was pretty much the breaking point in their relationship and, at the moment, they were both acknowledging it. They were accepting the fact that both Angel and Arezue wanted to break the thread that bound them together for all of eternity, they were acknowledging the fact that Angel was choosing his son over his daughter They were stating that the past two hundred years and all the years to come meant nothing to either of them.

"Whatever." She tossed her towel onto the couch and bounded down the stairs.

"Whoa!" Connor gasped out as Angel's hand slipped and his eyes did a 180. Arezue sent him an annoyed look.

"We share the same blood cells, moron." Arezue snapped at him as she walked over to Wesley and flopped down next to him.

"Chromosomes." Wesley stated softly, trying to divert his eyes from Arezue's legs. Seeing Arezue's blank look he explained. "It's actually chromosomes what you share. Your blood cells consist of what you eat – or whom you eat –" He sighed, breaking off as he noticed Arezue's confused face. "It doesn't matter very much."

Arezue smiled at him. She liked him for some reason…

"Whatever!" Cordelia snapped. "Connor, this is Arezue, one of the skeletons in Angel's closet. And Arezue –" She made a face. " It's not important." She took in Arezue's attire.

"Wow!" She sent her ratty clothes a disgusted look. "Angel really did knock up a whore!"

"Hey!" Arezue scowled at the barb but Cordelia Chase had moved on to Angel.

"Angel, can you please tell us whatever problem your spawn has?" There was an annoyed scowl from Arezue and a wince from Angel.

"Uh, well…" Angel knew that if he said he had no idea, Cordelia was likely to stake him on the spot. "Arezue wants to tell you. It's about Dracula."

"Dracula?" Cordelia asked, looking confused. "Like that one vampire in that movie?"Arezue rolled her eyes at this. Count on Angel to shackle up with a ditzy airhead.

"I'm going to assume that you mean the Bramstoker character." Arezue stated dryly. "And yes, in a way I suppose so." Pulling her hair out of her face, she slipped a scrunchie off of Cordelia's wrist; and ignoring her shocked look, she went on.

"Vladimir and I've been together for the past twelve years or so," She paused when she saw Angel's disgusted expression. "And before you start poking fun Angelus – don't." Angel, to Cordelia's shock, snapped his mouth shut.

"Two months ago, he asked me to become his mate." Seeing some blank looks, she exaggerated. "It's the equivalent of a human wedding – without all the disgusting holiness." She shuddered. A sick grin broke out over Angel's face.

"That's great!" He started to usher her towards the door. "I'd love to give you away and all, but I just don't want to. The wedding bills are on daddy. Have fun!" Rolling her eyes, the vampire pushed his hands away.

"I'm not getting married." Angel gave her a shrug.

"I'd like to be there Arezue, but I'm busy that day. You shouldn't bother to cancel over me." He didn't look at all sorry and Arezue groaned. He couldn't even fake being a good father.

"Shut up and sit!" Angel immediately planted himself on the couch. Her eyes were flashing angrily and he didn't want to expose Connor to anything that – well, he really didn't want to expose Connor to Arezue's true nature.

"I'm not becoming his mate because I turned him down." Angel's face fell at this and Arezue's anger and hurt grew. He would really do anything he could to be rid of her. "He and his followers have been trailing me since I left Transylvania. They want me as the countess."

"Oooo!" Cordelia piped up at this. "Countess is a great thing to be – lots of money!" She frowned at Arezue.

"You said you guys have been together long – does that mean you have sex in one of his fifty dirt-filled coffins every night or something?" Arezue shuddered at the image.

"Eeew! I forced him to buy a bed. Like I would sleep on a dirt filled coffin." She frowned. "Do you know who my father is?" She glanced at Angel. "Or used to be?"

Rolling her eyes at the absurdity of such a thing ever happening, Arezue walked over to Angel's fridge, which was behind the island, and propped it open.

"Um, guys?" Fred asked slowly. "Does that mean she'd sleep in a coffin if there was no dirt?" Everyone laughed, taking the physician's question as a joke.

"Dad?" Connor turned to Angel. "Are you going to explain who Arezue is already?" Angel sighed, deflating. It was finally here, the moment he'd been dreading.

"Arezue, Connor, can I talk to both of you in my office?"

"Sure." Ever the good son, Connor immediately agreed, moving towards the office.

"No." Arezue didn't even bother looking up from the ransacking of Angel's refrigerator. Angel sighed once more. He was decidedly tired of Arezue's continued insolence.

"Alcohol's in the office." He offered and received the very response he expected.

"Sure daddy! Why didn't you say so sooner?" Smirking at him, Arezue moved into the office.