She adjusted the neck of her shirt again before rounding the corner into the living room where Buffy and Willow were already seated on the couch. There was a bowl of popcorn between the two girls and a classic old movie played on the television in front of them.

"Hey Cora," Willow greeted her as Cora entered the living room.

"Hey," Cora replied, giving the redhead a friendly smile.

"So you've met Xander?" Buffy asked, noticing him as he followed Cora into the living room.

"Yeah. Spike kind of introduced us," she said awkwardly.

"Spike, huh? Well, as long as it wasn't Angelus." Buffy laughed at Xander's discomfort. "I don't think Xander is his biggest fan."

Xander sat down on the chair beside the couch. "Yeah, can you imagine me not liking the guy who wants nothing more than to torture me and then end my torture by sucking my blood dry? The unfairness of my dislike for him is unbelievable," Xander said sarcastically.

Cora laughed. The kid really was funny.

"Well, you're all in luck. I convinced Angelus that he would have a much better time sulking at Spike's than walking me here. Although I'm not sure I needed someone to walk me here in the first place." Cora rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch next to Willow.

Willow looked Cora over as she took her seat. Cora could feel the small redhead's eyes appraising her, and she saw her eyes grow wide as they fell upon her neck. Despite the turtleneck, Cora knew that the bruise could still be seen, and the puncture marks lay just below the edge of the neck were still red and raw, despite her Slayer healing abilities.

"Cora, are you okay?" Willow asked, concerned as she reached out to inspect Cora's neck.

"Yeah, of course." Cora self-consciously tugged at the neck to pull it up higher the second Willow noticed the wound. "I'm fine."

"But you—I mean, you're…bit." Willow stared at the black and blue marks that covered one side of the poor girl's neck.

"It's nothing, really."

"Were you attacked?" Buffy asked, sincerely concerned. Cora caught the Slayer's eyes and gave her a meaningful look. She had hoped that Buffy would have figured it out on her own and would have let it be. Apparently the Slayer didn't have much finesse. "Oh," Buffy said obviously as she realized what Cora's look meant.

"Oh what?" Xander asked from his place on the chair.

"You guys—I told you about the deal with Angelus that Cora has?" Buffy began. "Well, there are a lot of…things…in their agreement."

"Oh," Willow said, her mouth open wide. "Ohhh," she repeated as her eyes widened with realization of what Buffy was telling them.

"You mean he bit you?" Xander stared at Cora dumbly. "You let the evil maniac vampire bite you? On purpose?"

The room became silent for a moment. The only sounds came from the old movie still playing on television.

"There's a lot to it," Cora finally consented. "It's really better if you guys just…well, if you just stick to some of the less…disturbing details."

"Right," Xander said. "So why don't you fill us in on everything else? You lived with the guy? For like, years? What about school?" Xander's curiosity for the dark brunette beauty who sat in front of him was obvious. Cora almost laughed as his questions, and her laughter echoed the relief she felt at not having to discuss the more personal part of her and Angel's pact.

"Yeah, I've pretty much stayed with Angelus since I was nine. And no Xander, no school. Vampires don't like to stay in one place for too long and, well, that kind of life style isn't really conducive for a normal school schedule."

"Wow," Xander stared at Cora in amazement. "No school," he repeated to himself.

Cora laughed at his comment again before continuing. "It's not like I didn't learn anything. Seriously, you live with a two hundred year old vampire for seven or eight years and try not learning anything. I mean really, Angelus is a genius."

"Great, a psychotic immortal genius who wants to kill us all. Just what we need," Xander mused.

"So you've been to a lot of places?" Willow interrupted, quickly changing the subject. "I mean you said you moved around a lot?"

"Oh yeah," Cora answered eager to talk about anything that didn't revolve around Angelus wanting to kill them all. "Italy, Spain, Greece, China, Australia, Morocco, we even stayed in Iceland for a few months. We traveled all over Europe"

"Wow." It was Willow's turn to be in awe. "All that traveling and…and all that knowledge from those different cultures? It must have been amazing."

"It was, in a way. It was also very normal. We both get bored easily—Angelus and I. So, when one of us decided it was time to head out we just picked a new spot and moved. Our moving did involve a lot of underground traveling though…sewers and ships and dirty trains…you know, Angelus has that thing with sunlight." Cora smiled.

"Right, the vampire thing," Xander reminded them.

"Well, I think it's very interesting," Willow said, clearly annoyed at Xander. "I mean, he doesn't want to kill you and so I guess that's all good right?"

"Yep, no killing," Cora said through a reassuring smile. "So," she started, wanting to switch the conversation away from her, "what movies do we have?"

------------------------

On the third movie of the night, Xander and Willow fell asleep. Cora was watching the movie with a kind of disinterest, and Buffy was fighting the urge to follow her best friends' examples and let herself fall asleep.

"So," Buffy said, stifling a huge yawn, "not very sleepy?"

Cora turned her attention from the movie to the Slayer, who looked like she was ready to pass out any second.

"My sleep cycle is never really normal. I sleep through some nights while other times I find myself wanting to drift off when the sun's up."

"Vampires've got your system all screwed up?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Buffy looked at Cora inquisitively for a moment before her eyes started to drift close. But before she had the chance to fall asleep, a loud banging on the door brought her back to consciousness. Xander woke up from his own sleep with a startled, confused expression on his face while Willow barely stirred from her own dreams.

"Did we order a pizza?" Xander asked hopefully, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

Buffy looked at the clock. "At three thirty in the morning Xan? No."

From the front hallway, the banging came again.

"I guess I should…answer it?" Buffy asked getting up and heading for the door.

Cora followed her. "Maybe some backup?" she suggested. "Just in case it isn't the delivery guy…"

"Maybe I'll come too," Xander offered, rising from the chair. "You know, just in case it is the delivery guy."

As Buffy approached the door, the visitor on the other side pounded again. This time, the door actually shook on its hinges. Buffy grabbed the knob and opened it slowly. Cora stood poised behind her, and Xander peeked out from around Cora.

When the door was opened wide enough for Cora, Buffy, and Xander to see who was on the other side, Cora had to cover her mouth to suppress a giggle.

On the other side of the threshold, a groggy Angelus leaned against the doorframe. A little further back from him, Spike was laid out across the Summers' porch holding a bottle of whiskey in each hand. He was whispering to the opening of one of them.

"Slayer," Angelus said, blinking his eyes and then squinting them to get a better view of her. "And, oh look, the little annoying man."

Xander had taken a step back when he had seen Angelus. Realization began to dawn in his eyes.

"You're freaking drunk," he said, pointing a finger accusingly at Angelus. "Buffy, he's drunk."

"Thanks Xander," Buffy said, still holding the door open.

"Wanta invite me in Slayer? Heard it's a party." From behind his back, Angelus brought out his own bottle of alcohol and took a swig of it. When he went to lean his hand back against the doorframe, he missed it slightly and lost his balance, which sent him crashing into one of the chairs that sat on the porch.

Cora couldn't hold it in any longer. At Angelus' fall, she started laughing.

"Buffy, I'm so sorry," she said in between giggles. She covered her mouth with her hand to try and get a hold of herself. "I didn't know they were going to…well, Spike said something about it being a 'boys' night,' but, I didn't—"

"Their drunk!" Xander repeated. "I mean, Spike yeah, but Angelus is drunk."

"Okay Xander, we understand," Buffy said impatiently.

Angelus had regained his composure out on the porch and he turned back to the people in the front hallway.

"No invite, baby?" His voice sounded sad, and Buffy recognized the small Irish accent that the usually coherent Angelus no longer had.

"I'll take care of them. I really am sorry Buffy, Xander." Cora had finally found herself able to stop laughing at the poor condition of the two vampires. She walked towards Angelus' place in the doorframe.

Xander grabbed her arm. "Cora, you don't know what he's going to do…do you? I mean, he's out of it."

Cora smiled at him, appreciative of his concern. "I've handled him like this a few times before, Xander. Trust me, it'll be fine." She released herself from his grasp and went to Angelus, who was taking another large drink of alcohol.

"Maybe you should let me have that." Cora reached for the bottle, but Angelus pulled it out of her grasp.

"Maybe I'll let you have other things instead," Angelus said, smiling at her with a wicked drunken grin and holding the bottle out above her head.

"Yeah, okay, Angelus." Cora turned to Spike and then waited a moment. When she knew Angelus had brought the bottle back to his mouth, she spun around and grabbed it out of his hands. "Or not."

Cora tossed the bottle to Buffy in the doorway. "Wanna trash that for me? Angelus here has had enough."

"You little—" Angelus started, but Cora's hand covered his mouth before he finished his sentence.

"You'll regret it, Angel. Why don't we all go home?" She grabbed his arm, and as he started to lose his balance again, he threw his other arm over her shoulder.

"God you really weigh a lot," Cora complained as she turned to Spike. She gave him a hard kick in the butt. "Coming Spike?"

"No, pet. Think I'll just rest her awhile." He laid his head down in his hands.

"Won't be so peaceful in a couple of hours when the sun is up and shining down on you," Cora said mockingly.

Spike's head came up slowly. "Oh, righ' then." He got up slowly, trying not to drop the two bottles of alcohol he was carrying. "Wanna shot baby?" he offered to Cora, who was still waiting for him at the edge of the porch.

"No Spike I think you've had enough for everyone tonight." She walked Angelus down the steps and then left him there, returning to Buffy and Xander.

"I really really—"

"No," Buffy said with a smile. "Don't apologize. Just get them home." Buffy looked down at where Angelus was sitting on her porch steps. "I don't want to find out that some drunken vampire killed someone in the morning."

"Don't worry," Cora said. "I had fun. We'll try it again, after I kill these two."

"Are you sure you don't want some Cora? It'll be fun," Spike repeated, holding the bottle out to her. Cora shook her head again and attempted to lead Spike off the porch. "Come on, love. Remember tha' one time, in…Morocco? Yeah. An' you an' me…we got so bleedin' gone offa that cheap rum. 'Member, pet?"

"Spike, that was you and some cheap vampire named Dora. And from what I remember, you passed out in the middle of the wide open desert, and I was the one who had to go and get you before your ass got toasted by the nice bright sunlight."

"Oh," Spike looked taken aback. "Well, yeah, I guess it was a little more like that."

Rolling her eyes, Cora led him off the porch and then escorted the two drunken vampires back to Spike's crypt, where they both passed out—Angelus on the couch, Spike on a tomb—and slept till the next afternoon.

-----------------------

Spike woke up first. At first, his confusion about the throbbing pain in his forehead and the heaviness of his undead limbs occupied his mind. Then, slowly, he realized where he was and recalled the events of the previous evening.

After he had walked Cora to the Slayer's house, he had returned to his crypt to find Angelus stealing his blood again.

"What?" Angelus had asked upon seeing Spike's anger.

"What the bleedin' hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just…hungry is all, William."

Spike remembered his momentary confusion before he had realized why Angelus wasn't out killing for his own food.

"She's got you whipped, mate."

Angelus changed quickly into his vampire form and swung at Spike. "No one has me whipped." With that, he had carelessly thrown the bag of blood back into the refrigerator before turning to the younger vampire. "Let's go out."

The two vampires had hit up a few of the more in-town bars before venturing out to Willy's. They then proceeded to drink eight or nine bottles of alcohol before deciding that their "girl," Cora, needed to go home with them.

"What a bloody night," Spike muttered to himself, rising up from his tomb and rubbing his head with his hands. He glanced over at Angelus' sleeping form on the couch. The older vampire was clearly still recovering. Spike got to his feet slowly and went to find Cora. She wasn't anywhere in the upper part of the crypt, so he decided to check the lower part.

He crawled down the staircase cautiously, not completely trusting his legs yet. He found the young girl curled up in a ball on one of Spike's old recliners, reading one of his books—Dante's Inferno.

"Bit of light reading, pet?" He went and sat on the arm of her chair.

"Feeling better?" she asked him, setting her book aside.

"Feel like hell, love." He noticed the way she was curled up and then took off his long black signature leather coat and laid it across her. She looked up at him with a curious expression on her face. "You looked cold." He shrugged.

Cora smiled at him again. God she had missed Spike. Angelus was wonderful as far as evil vampires went, but the humanity that Spike had acquired—the emotions, the personality—allowed her to form a bond with him that was different than the one she shared with Angelus.

"You're feeling better though, right? All the…cuts and bumps and everything?" he asked, gesturing towards her.

"Yeah, I am. Leg's still a little sore, but that'll come with time. I'm alright—thanks to you."

"I just gave you a place to rest, pet. Angelus got you out of there."

"Yeah, but Angelus wouldn't have made the effort to take care of me like you have. Just wanted to let you know I was grateful."

Spike took a moment and let what she said soak in. She was so incredibly grown up. He had known her throughout her life. He had watched her change from an annoying ten year old to the beautiful woman she was now. He loved Cora—in a way that he wasn't too sure of yet. He watched her looking up at him. She looked so tiny in the black sweatpants and baggy sweatshirt she was wearing—his black sweatshirt—and covered in his leather jacket. Her long brown hair had fallen messily around her shoulders. Her skin had returned to its normal olive tone, something he had severely missed when she had first come to him after being kept by the Grieshlin. Her dark brown eyes looked into his own seriously. Even when she was younger, her eyes had startled him. She looked at people as if she knew all of their secrets, and as if they knew none of hers.

He bit back a smile as memories of her growing up flooded back to him. He remembered when they had met in New York, when he and Dru had decided to travel with Angelus and the young girl. Cora had been scared to death of Spike; she wouldn't be left alone in a room with him. Angelus had finally forced the blonde vampire to take Cora out for a night—pizza and a movie—to force Cora to get over her fear of him. It had taken Spike a few hours of serious thinking before agreeing to it. He knew the second he got the cute, young girl away from Angelus he would want to eat her. He had made up his mind, however, when he and Cora left the house after dark. The second they had moved out of Angelus' line of vision, she had jumped in front of Spike, nearly startling him. She was feet shorter than him, of course, but she pulled out a small, sharpened pencil and had threatened him. She had promised him that if he pulled a "lumpy face," she'd "slay" him. After that, he realized he didn't even want to kill her. She was too damn hilarious.

He brought his mind back to the present, where Cora had resumed her reading.

"Mind if I join you, pet?" He asked her, rising from his place on the chair and moving towards the makeshift bookcase that resided in the corner of the room.

"Sure. What're you reading?"

Spike held out a small leather bound book, similar to the one Cora had.

"Dante's Paradiso? Nice. The vampire reads the book about Heaven while I sit here and read about Hell." She smiled at him and shook her head in amazement. Spike never failed to surprise her.

"Mind if I sit, love?" Spike gestured to Cora's place on the old recliner, the only soft piece of furniture that resided in the lower level of Spike's crypt.

"Haha," Cora smirked. "I'm not getting up."

"Fine, then." In one smooth motion, Spike picked Cora up from the chair and took her place, settling her down on top of his lap.

Cora narrowed her eyes at the vampire underneath her and shot him a deadly glare.

"Fine," she huffed, making herself comfortable on Spike's lap and resuming her place in her book.

Spike smiled slightly and then opened up his own. He pretended to read for a few long moments before lying his book down on the chair's arm.

Cora regarded him slyly. She had known that she had left things with Spike a little up in the air when he had taken off with Drusilla, she just hadn't been sure that he had cared. The look in her eyes told her that he obviously still did.

She laid her own book down and turned on his lap, bending her knees backwards and letting her weight sit in the edges of the chair, straddling Spike. She put her arms around his neck and looked him deeply in the eyes.

"It's been a while, love," he said quietly, settling his arms around her waist.

"You left," she reminded him sternly.

"You had Angelus," he countered.

"Wrong. I have Angelus."

"But in a different way, pet." He smiled at her, sucking his cheeks in and accentuating his high cheekbones.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently, softly. He wrapped his arms around her more tightly, drawing her closer into him, deepening the kiss.

After a minute or so he felt Cora pull back, just as she normally did. She twisted her body away from him and then curled up against him, resting against his hard chest. She tucked her chin in and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and enjoying the closeness she could share with Spike. It wasn't the commanding, forceful relationship she often shared with Angelus. She knew that she loved Angelus, a fact that she had kept hidden to herself all of her life. It was a forced kind of love, one that she knew that she needed. What she felt with Spike was different. Instead of needing him, she wanted him, in a way that she had never felt with Angelus. She used to hate herself for it—the relationship with Angelus was enough, the forced pact that she and he shared required her relationship with him, but the relationship she had developed with Spike was a choice of her own.

Was she evil? She pondered the thought as she rested her head against his still, silent chest. No heart beat, no breath. She was a part of a line of Second Generation Slayers, and yet she had spent her life living with vampires, basically condoning the killing and drinking that they did on a nightly basis.

She let out a deep sigh and felt Spike's hand move to rub her back. She used to spend so much time worrying over her lifestyle, until she had finally taught herself to forget it. She was okay with it, and it used to be that no one else matter besides herself. But now, with Buffy and Xander and Willow, she found herself drudging up her old concerns and worries. She wouldn't let Buffy kill Angelus, but she wouldn't let Angelus kill Buffy, either.

So where did she belong, with the Slayer? Or with the vampire? The Slayer who was committed to helping the innocent, to slaying evil, or the vampire who had taken care of her throughout her life, who had shown her the world and had become her father, her brother, her lover, and her best friend after the death of her parents?

Cora cleared her head of all of her thoughts. The gentle pressure of Spike's cold hand on her back was making her drowsy again. She allowed herself to relax completely against him, and soon she was asleep again.