"This is cute, girls. Really." Angelus returned his attention to Buffy. "Now that we're all introduced, can I kick your ass?"
Buffy was still too unsure to come up with one of her signature comebacks. Luckily, a familiar figure behind her interrupted before she had the chance to reply.
"Are you all having a right old time exchanging insults? Because I think there's a girl who's supposed to have been delivered to me by now." Spike was agitated. He couldn't count on that damned Angelus for anything.
"Spike?" The weak voice sounded hopeful at seeing the bleached blonde vampire.
"Yeah, pet, it's me." Spike crossed in front of the Slayer's path and addressed Angelus. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Spikey, boy." Angelus grinned. "I've been working. You have any idea how many damn things I had to kill in order to get to her anyways? It was hell."
Both vampires had quickly forgotten about the frustrated Slayer staring angrily at Spike's back.
"You'd know. How is she?" Spike took another step towards Angelus when Cora's eyes blinked open again and she smiled at Spike.
"You can talk to me you know. I'm right here." She gave a half smirk to Spike before turning to Angelus. "You can put me down now."
"Yeah…not so sure about that girlie." Angelus shifted her in his arms again so as to show the younger vampire all the blood on his hand. "She's pretty bad Spike. She might've even ruined my backseat. I'll be scrubbing blood out of the leather for the next century."
"I don't really give a damn about your car Angelus. Let's get 'er inside. The crypt's just up a little ways."
Cora resisted as Angelus started to move with her again. It was one thing to be carried like a child when she was unconscious, but couldn't they let her walk now at least the rest of the way?
"Squirm again and I'll bite you," Angelus warned sharply. Then he grinned. "Really, go ahead. I'd enjoy it."
"Bite me and I'll stake your ass." Cora could hardly keep her eyes open, but she wouldn't let Angelus get the best of her. It had been forever since she had last spoken to the vampire, and the last time they had parted it had been after hours of fighting and screaming. It felt unnatural to be back in his arms and to be bantering with him like old times again.
Buffy had been silent the whole time. Confusion and anger and frustration had risen up in her while listening to the two vampires' conversation. Spike was good. Or at least, Spike couldn't hurt anyone—not since the chip. In fact, she had grown used to Spike fighting alongside of her during her patrols. She had gotten used to trusting him during their patrols together, and she was also used to being the one in the loop not being the one left out.
What she was definitely not used to was him doing business with her ex—one of the most evil vampires ever to have been borne—one who had spent several months tormenting Buffy and her friends after he had lost his soul again. She was nearly brushed aside by Spike as he and Angelus continued up the path that led to the crypt that Spike had made his permanent residence. Making a fast decision, she quickened her pace to catch up with Spike to find out what was going on before Angelus had the chance to pass her.
"What the hell is going on here Spike?" She had had enough of being left in the dark.
"Later, Buffy," Spike dismissed her and glanced over his shoulder to check on Cora, who was desperately trying to resist falling asleep again in Angelus' arms. He almost laughed at the sight—Angelus carrying an almost fatally injured girl and he hadn't even been the one to injure her. Not that he should be surprised of course. As unnatural as it was for a vampire to be helping a human girl, it was the most natural thing in the world for Angelus to be helping Cora.
"No, now, Spike." Buffy grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. Angelus halted in midstep behind them. Spike was already glaring angrily at her.
"Damnit, Buffy…"
The sudden stop had roused Cora again. "Spike," she quieted the vampire with her interruption. Then she turned her attention to Buffy. She regarded the Slayer for a moment and then spoke. "Buffy, follow us up to Spike's. I'll try to explain things to you when we're there and after I…" Cora shifted her shoulders and let out a quick gasp of pain again. "After I get…a little settled."
"I don't even know who you are, or what you are, or if you're..."
Cora interrupted Buffy's protests again. "I know this is difficult, with Angelus here and everything, but do I really look evil?" Buffy regarded the strange girl for a moment, at a loss for words. "Well, I don't," Cora continued. "So you'll just have to trust me. Angelus won't hurt you at all tonight. You won't hurt her at all tonight, Angelus." The vampire let out a snort and something that sounded like a 'yeah, sure.'
Cora rolled her eyes. "Please, Buffy. I have to get to Spike's. Just follow us there." With those closing words, Spike began to walk again towards his place. He could smell the blood coming out of Cora's wounded body. He just had to get her safe, and then the Slayer could bitch about this and everything else in the world all she wanted to.
So the unlikely group continued to Spike's crypt, which lay just up ahead on the other side of the cemetery. Throughout the end of the journey, the Slayer kept an unwavering eye on the evil vampire that followed just behind her left shoulder, still carrying his young charge. Buffy thought the girl might have fallen asleep again. Her breathing was short and raspy, and her right hand clutched at Angelus' black shirt tightly. She was definitely in pain.
Finally, they reached the old stone crypt that Spike had transformed into a small home for himself. The blonde vampire held the thick wooden door open for the rest of them. When Angelus stepped quickly over the threshold with Cora, Spike stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"Lie her on the bed," he ordered quickly. With two large steps, he descended the stairs that led into his crypt and crossed the stone floor to a brown trunk that was sitting in the corner behind a lumpy green couch. As Angelus' laid Cora down across Spike's old comforter, Spike returned with an armful of first aid gear.
"Where's all the blood coming from?" Spike scanned the girl quickly as he took out some antiseptic and poured out the contents of a large box of gauze strips.
"Check her stomach. I dunno what all they did to her down there, but there was blood everywhere. Not that I had much time to look around, but from what I did see, they had definitely been having some fun with her." Angelus started to back his way away from the bed. Saving Cora was his duty, but after his and her last time together, he wasn't sure that he wanted to stick around and be there for her again. "Not that I don't love Cora to death, but I was just supposed to deliver her…and, well I've done that."
"Oh can you stay here for a few bloody minutes longer you selfish ass? I might need some help." Spike had already started to unbutton the girl's black shirt.
"Fine, but when she gives the word—I'm gone. And watch your mouth, Spikey boy. Those weren't nice words." Angelus leaned against the wall closest to the bed and watched Spike as he removed Cora's shirt. He could smell all of the matted blood that had been hidden beneath it.
"You could have at least bandaged her up before you brought her," Spike scolded.
"Hey, not part of the deal. And neither was getting stopped by a Slayer. I think I'm going to need some extra compensation for the unexpected headache." Angelus glanced at the blonde who was watching Spike as he rolled up the tanktop Cora had on beneath her button down shirt. "Need some extra for the new backseat I'm gonna have to put in too," he mumbled quietly.
Spike ignored him. Instead, he concentrated on cleaning away the blood from Cora's abdomen so that he could see the injuries more clearly. As he did that, he noticed fresh blood coming from underneath her. "Damn," he cursed. "Angelus, could'ya get over here and lift her up? She's bleeding from the back too."
Angelus went and sat on the other side of the bed, gently lifting the sleeping girl up so that he could get a good view of her back. He pushed the tanktop up further and found the source of the blood. "Looks like someone had a great time carving her up back here." He grabbed one of the rags by Spike and started on Cora's back. No matter what he had told himself about keeping his distance from her this time, he couldn't leave her the way she was. Spike would take care of her, yeah, but she would need Angelus. She had always needed him.
"Wow, these guys were serious. Almost looks like some of my work," Angelus said.
With a heavy sigh, he took the antiseptic from Spike and started cleaning the wounds on the girl's back. There were three deep gashes that ran from the bottom of her bra strap to her hips and two others that crossed diagonally on top of those. She was going to owe him big for this. Why could no one respect the fact that he was evil again? As in, soulless. As in, he didn't bandage poor little girl's wounds—not even Cora's. He shook his head and quickly taped the thick gauze pads against the cuts before they could start bleeding again.
He turned to Spike. "That good, doc?"
Spike had just finished covering the wounds Cora had sustained on her abdomen. They were long, deep gashes, similar to the ones that had covered her back. They stretched across her thin stomach, starting from where her lower ribs stuck out and ending just above her hips. Just like on her back, they were messy wounds. She had been cut up good.
"We need to put some pressure against those bandages. Keep'er from bleeding some more." Spike picked a roll of thick bandage tape out of the pile of first aid things he had brought and gave Angelus one end. They wrapped the tape tightly around her upper body, putting pressure against her wounds. Spike tucked the end of the wrap in and helped Angelus set her back against the bed.
"Alright, that'll be good for now. Her arm looks a little outta place, but I can see to that later. She'll be alright for now." Spike stepped back, content for the moment that Cora would be alright. He turned to Buffy.
She had been silent the whole time, eyeing the two vampires suspiciously as they attended to the girl. She could hardly believe that it was Angelus who was so carefully bandaging her wounds along with Spike. But when the old vampire stood up again, he regarded her with a cool stare and a malicious smile, seeming much more like his evil, cruel self.
"Well, I can see my work is done." Angelus wiped his hands on his black pants. "Spike, tell my girl I'll be by to see her later, after I've gotten some rest and a good meal." He directed the last word at Buffy with a smile. "I'm beat."
"You'll be stickin' around then this time?" Spike asked him, a frown on his brow.
"Hey, Cor's pissed me off plenty of times in the past. We go our separate ways for a while, but we usually end up back together." Angelus looked down at Cora with a deep look in his eyes, a look that would trouble Buffy for a long time.
He turned to leave and felt the Slayer's eyes following him as he left. "Almost forgot…" Angelus turned back around and bent over the bed to plant a small kiss on Cora's forehead, at the same time entwining one of his hands in her hair.
He gave Buffy a smug smile as her turned around again and headed for the door. "Had to say goodbye, lover," he goaded her with a small smile. And with that, he left the crypt.