Hours later, Buffy headed across town towards the cemetery, both her stomach and head full. Dinner with Giles had been both delicious…and enlightening. The Slayer and Watcher had caught spent the time catching up on various things and discussing Cora's being a slayer.
As she neared Spike's crypt, Buffy heard fighting. She quickly grabbed her stake and ran ahead, ready to stake whatever vamps or demons were having it out in the cemetery.
The Slayer stopped dead in her tracks when she saw whom it was doing the fighting.
Cora and Angelus were locked in a battle. Buffy fought the urge to jump in and slay Angelus—those were her Slayer senses telling her to do that—and besides, she knew that Angelus couldn't hurt Cora. But how was Cora keeping up with him after her injuries?
Buffy watched curiously, barely noticing that she was edging closer and closer to where they were fighting.
They seemed evenly matched, Buffy noticed, surprised. Cora kept up with him punch for punch. Although, Buffy soon realized, Angelus didn't seem to be going at full speed. She knew that if she had been the one he was fighting, he would be putting a lot more force behind each of those hits.
"You're losing, baby," Angelus taunted Cora as he blocked a punch from her.
"I'm keeping up my end," Cora grunted, as she tried desperately to block his punches. She tried a roundhouse kick at his head, but he caught her leg and spun her back. She landed hard on the ground, her injured leg pinned underneath her.
Angelus waited a second for Cora to get up and continue fighting, but the girl didn't get up from where she had fallen. He went to her suddenly.
"You alright?" he asked, holding out a hand.
"Yeah, no big deal," Cora said, dusting herself off as Angelus pulled her up. "Just tired. I did a lot better than you thought," she said, a cocky grin spreading across her face. As she turned to face Angelus, she noticed Buffy for the first time.
"Hey, Buffy," Cora greeted her.
"Hey," Buffy replied, still dazed from watching the two locked in combat.
"Slayer," Angelus said as he too turned to face her. He put an arm around Cora's slim shoulders. "You see you've got some competition over here right? She nearly had me down and she's been injured. You must just suck." Angelus gave Buffy an evil smile.
"Please ignore him," Cora said. "It makes you feel better."
Buffy let out a little laugh. "Actually, I was kind of coming to talk to you about that," Buffy said, approaching the subject cautiously.
"About?" Cora prompted, using Angelus to balance herself as she massaged her injured leg.
"The Second Generation?" Buffy prompted.
"Oh," Cora's face fell. "Right, how do you know about that?"
"Giles did the research thing. Kinda filled me in."
"Well, there's not much to it." Cora pointed to herself, "Partial Slayer," she said. Then she pointed to Buffy, "Full Slayer."
"That simple?" Buffy asked. "Nothing I need to know about?"
"Not really," Cora laughed. "It just makes it easier for me to kick his ass—you know?" Cora pushed Angelus away playfully as she regained her balance.
Buffy still looked unconvinced. Cora took a step toward the girl in an effort to explain things to her.
"Buffy, it's…I'm still the same. It was one of the reasons Angelus couldn't defeat my family, one of the reasons for the pact that we have. It's just something I was born with."
Angelus mumbled something under his breath at Cora's mention of the pact.
"Excuse me?" Cora asked him. "You said something?"
"Nothing," Angelus dismissed it, yet continued to mutter under his breath as Cora turned back to Buffy.
"What Angelus?" Cora spun to face him.
"I'm just saying," he began, an annoyed look on his angelic face, "I could easily have killed your family."
Cora smiled and put a hand up to his face in a babying gesture. "Of course you could have sweetie, you just wanted to have the chance to meet me instead." Turning away from him, and ignoring the grunts of protest her gave her, Cora addressed Buffy again. "Are you okay with this Buffy?"
"Yeah," Buffy said, looking seriously at Cora. "Just...we're still learning about each other right?"
"Yeah," Cora agreed. "Don't worry Buffy, everything will come in time."
Cora leaned against Angelus again, still trying to rub the throbbing pain out of her injured leg. "Now," she turned back to Buffy, "mind if we turn in? I'm kind of exhausted."
Buffy smiled. "Hey, no problem," she replied. "Oh, I just remembered. Xander, Willow, and I are all going to my house tomorrow around nine or so for a movie night. I was thinking you could come and…you know, get acquainted with the gang."
"Sure." Cora smiled at the girl warmly. "Definitely."
Buffy returned Cora's enthusiasm with a smile. Angelus' face had a disgusted look to it, which both girls ignored.
"So I'll see you then," Buffy said. With that, the Slayer turned around and headed towards the street. She had other cemeteries to patrol before she could go home.
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"I can't believe you're going to go have a sleepover with the freaking Slayer and those damn friends of hers." Angelus had been fuming about it since Buffy had invited Cora, and now that they were back in the crypt, he intended to let her know exactly how he felt.
Cora sat down gingerly on Spike's couch. She was already sore from her workout with Angel, but she knew that the stiffness would fade by the morning. Thanks to Spike's help with nursing her back to health, Cora's strength was finally beginning to return. She stretched purposefully and then laid back on the couch to listen to Angelus rant.
"You're acting like some pathetic little teenage human, Cora. It's disgusting. You've never been like this before…" Cora tuned him out after a few more insults. She knew that he would calm down. The situation was just too against his nature for him to sit by and let it all happen without putting in his own thoughts. Cora was actually surprised that he had been this good so far.
Finally, Cora realized that the room had become silent, and Angelus was looking down at her expectedly.
"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him. From her spot on the couch, Angelus towered over her.
"I said," he repeated, "that it's been a while."
"Has it?" Cora mused, still not concentrating on what he was saying.
Angelus went and sat on the other end of the couch, moving Cora's feet and resting them on his lap. His hands worked their way over her ankles and up her calves. She realized that she should start paying attention.
"What exactly are you after, Angel?" Cora asked him, raising her eyebrows at him.
He slipped into his vampire guise. "You know what I want, baby." He smiled a large grin, his fangs menacing. "It's part of the deal, and you're obviously feeling better. You know I wouldn't push if I thought it would hurt you."
Cora inhaled deeply, considering what Angelus was asking. He hadn't drunk from her in months. Not since before the Grieshlin had taken her. She had been living on her own in Santa Maria for the few months before she was kidnapped and Angelus hadn't been in town then either.
Angelus swung his leg over Cora's body, straddling her, but still holding up his weight so as to not hurt the girl. His fangs hung over her neck tauntingly.
"Can I?" he asked.
Cora started to nod, but stopped. "I'm going to see Buffy tomorrow, Angelus. Please, don't make it noticeable." Cora hoped that he would comply with her request, although she knew him better than to have too much faith in him when he was getting ready to drink from her.
One of Angelus' hands reached out and gripped Cora's arm, pinning it above her head, immobilizing her. His other hand gripped her other shoulder as he leaned down over her neck.
Although Cora was used to the sensation, it was different this time. Angelus usually made it a priority to do it without hurting her. In fact, she usually never even felt a thing except for the pleasure that his biting could bring her. This time, she felt his fangs tearing into her flesh. She let out a small gasp of unexpected pain and then relaxed into the couch as he drank from her.
She could feel him pulling her blood, feel her body weaken as he pulled life from her, but after a few moments, her body began to course with the buzz of energy that Angelus was experiencing. Cora had always had a special connection with him when he drank from her. She felt what he was feeling. Her partial Slayer blood flowed through his body, and he relished in the power.
When he was finished, he released her arms gently. He shook his head lightly as his features reverted back to their human form. He pulled up her legs so that she was nestled like a ball in the corner of the couch. Cora found herself leaning against him, and he wrapped his arms around her as she felt her eyelids get heavy with exhaustion.
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She reached up instinctively and felt the bite marks on her neck. Cora knew that despite her pleading with him to make the marks unnoticeable, he had deliberately done the opposite of her request.
He could feel her anger at him and he noticed her exploring the new wounds on her neck.
"Sorry, Cor…Slayer's gotta know you're mine, though."
"I don't belong to you Angelus," Cora corrected him as she let her hand fall back down to the couch and her eyes closed.
"Sure you don't." Angelus watched the young girl close her eyes and drift off to sleep in his arms. Although she had been falling asleep with him for the last three or four years, he still had a difficult time understanding the trust and comfort she could feel in the arms of someone who was so cruel and dangerous.
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Some time early the next morning Spike came home. He had made himself at home at Willy's bar for the night, buying up the bartender's stock of blood. He stuck it in the mini refrigerator that he kept in his crypt, chuckling at how funny it looked sitting beside Cora's assortment of juices and fruits and yogurts. Moving quietly, he walked to the couch. Angelus and Cora slept peacefully; Cora nestled against the older vampire. Spike shook his head with wonder. Although he had known Cora for years, he still found her relationship with his grandsire strange, even unsettling at times. Spike climbed into bed and fell asleep just as the sun began to peek into the crypt's small windows.
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A little before nine the next night Cora left Spike's for Buffy's. Angelus had insisted on going with her, but Cora had been adamant that she could make the walk herself. Still, the overprotective vampire persisted. He wouldn't allow her to walk the few blocks to Buffy's, but Cora wouldn't allow Angelus, who would definitely be unwelcome if anyone were to see him, to walk her. The solution walked beside her: the bleached blonde vampire had actually seemed happy to solve the problem and to walk her to Buffy's house himself.
"Ya know, love…that's quite an affect you've got on Angelus. Never seen somethin' like it." Spike shook his head.
"And I haven't had an affect on you?" Cora asked, giving him a cocky grin as she adjusted her black turtleneck. Unfortunately, even the high-necked shirt couldn't hide all of the damage Angelus had done the night before. She hoped no one would notice. "Even without that chip you never would have touched me. You wouldn't even let anyone else do it either—you stopped Dru hundreds of times."
"Might be true, pet, but then again Angelus is a different story. Much more evil, ya' know?" They crossed the street, Spike putting a protective guiding hand on Cora's back as they did.
"Yeah. I guess when he accepted the fact that he couldn't break the pact he decided to live with it not against it."
"Like I said—you've affected him. Never seen a vamp take care of a little kid like Angelus did for you. Everyone nearly thought he'd gone bonkers, ya' know? I remember he had to take out a few towns to keep up the reputation."
"Well, good to know I've had such positive affect on him."
Spike laughed. "Didn't mean to make you feel bad, pet. Just sayin' he's done a lot for you is all."
"You've done a lot for me, too, Spike." Cora put a friendly arm around his waist. Spike returned her gesture by putting his arm around her. "I've missed you," she continued. "Before this, you took off with Dru. You just up and left us when we got back to America."
"I know, pet. Big mistake, by the way. She got a little nuttier after we left you."
Cora laughed at the comment about his ex. They were approaching Buffy's house.
"Takin' care of you now though, aren't I? And I won't let any other big bad get a piece of you, not this time." They had stopped on the sidewalk in front of the Summers' home. Cora could hear laughing inside. A few seconds later, a boy with dark shaggy hair opened the door.
"Spike," the boy greeted. "Still getting grabby with the Slayers I see." He looked down at the girl in Spike's arms. "And you must be Cora."
Spike took a step away from Cora. "Cora…Xander," he said in a short introduction. "Meet the man who is the first I'd kill if I had the chance." Spike squeezed one of Cora's arms affectionately before starting to turn away. "Get you here tomorrow pet?"
"If I have to have an escort, then yes, I'll see you then." She returned his affection by squeezing his hand and then turned to introduce herself to the young man formally.
She stopped in front of him at the door. "So, yeah, I'm Cora." She held out a hand for Xander to shake. "And you're Xander?"
"The Xan-man, at your service," Xander said, giving a mock bow. Then his face turned serious. He leaned in towards Cora as if sharing a secret "Hey, he wasn't serious right? About killing me first?"
Cora laughed. "No Xander, he wasn't serious."
Xander straightened up. "Of course he wasn't. Not like I was scared or anything. So, you don't have to be invited in or anything right?"
Cora laughed again. The boy was funny.
"No Xander, that applies for vampires only."
"Right. Well, then," Xander stepped aside, "you're invited anyways. The girls are in the living room."
Cora stepped inside the Summer's home and Xander closed the door behind her.