Part 5/?

“Who are you?” Angel asked through clenched teeth, “And how do you know my name?”

“Look, Angel…” Cordelia said as she shivered from the cold rain. “I’ll tell you everything you wanna know—but first, you think we can get outta the rain?” She then flashed a nervous smile as she looked up into his pale face. “I mean, this skirt’s awful short and it’s getting cold…”

“My place is near…we’ll go there.” The souled vampire ordered, not even bothering to hide his command as a request.

“Pfft. Fine.” Cordelia said as she followed behind the 1960s version of her best friend. “But if you think you’re gonna continue getting away with talking to me like that—you gotta another think coming—got it, buster!”

“Yeah…sure.” Angel, not sure what to think of this strange human-demon hybrid woman, acknowledged, as a rare and unaccustomed smile threatened to cross his features.

“You better, Deadboy.” Cordelia snorted. “I’ll kick your undead ass until it’s 2002—and don’t think I can’t either.”

Glancing back, Angel, seeing the determined look in her eyes and her sure and confident stride as her white boots hit the pavement, chuckled. “You know…I believe you would.”

“Damned straight, I would.” Cordelia snapped back with a smirk as they reached the door of the ensouled vampire’s apartment building.

*****************************************

“Hmmm…Angelus has a new girlfriend.” Darla, clad in a tangerine A-line mini, said with a sly grin as she observed the couple go into the hovel that the former scourge of Europe now called home. “I have to say…his tastes haven’t changed much in two hundred years—he still likes ‘em young and pretty.” She smirked as she heard the sucking sound behind her. “Make sure you save some for me, baby.” The child of the Master said in a silky voice as her face transformed into her demon visage.

“Plenty left…” The other vampire growled as he tossed one of the pair’s victims for this evening, a young bearded man wearing bell-bottom jeans and a tie-dyed t-shirt with love beads to his partner as if the youth was nothing but a rag doll.

As the elder vampire looked into the fearful eyes of the young man, her lips turned up into a cruel smile as she smelled the fear in her victim. “I do so love a fresh kill.” She said in a silky voice as she sunk her fangs deep into her hapless prey, drinking deeply of his blood. Then, draining him dry, she tossed him aside as one would a scrap of paper.

“This one tastes funny.” The other vampire said as his victim, a teenage girl with long, silky dirty blonde hair, wearing a psychedelic pattern maxi, slumped down to the pavement.

“You know you have to be careful who you eat these days.” Darla admonished. “Remember what happened to Cletus after he ate that hippie tripping on Orange Sunshine.”

“Yeah…it’s getting to where you can’t eat someone in peace without worrying about whether you’re gonna go on a bad trip and run out in the sun or something.”

Taking one last look at the apartment, Angelus’ sire instructed, “We’d better get back before Luke gets upset. I’m sure he’ll want to hear about Angelus’ new pet.”

*****************************************

The moment Angel opened the door to his apartment; Cordelia shook her head in disgust as she looked into the squalid living space. “You know something, Angel? You really do suck rocks as an interior decorator!”

“Yeah…well…” The tormented vampire all but sneered, “I’ve had other things on my mind.”

“Yeah… I know.” Cordelia replied airily as she breezed picked up Angel’s packages and breezed through the tiny efficiency to the kitchenette. “You’ve been spending the past…what…sixty years? Moping around saying ‘Oh woe is me…I’m a baaaaaaaaaad boy…’ instead of getting off your broody butt and doing something about it!” Reaching the kitchen counter, she placed the paper grocery bags down and took out a jar containing pig’s blood and a saucepan. Pouring the blood into the saucepan, she then turned on the gas and lit one of the burners on the stove into life. “Sit down and I’ll fix your blood and then we’ll talk.”

Shaking his head in disbelief at how easily this woman, whom he doesn’t even know, had just come in and taken over his apartment, the ensouled vampire growled, “You have no idea who I am or what I’ve done…”

“Let’s see…you used to be Angelus, the Scourge of Europe…got sired by that bottle blonde bitch Darla…what is your hangup with blondes anyway?” She asked in a somewhat disgusted tone, brushing away one of her blonde highlighted tresses as she poured the now warm blood into a coffee cup. “Ok, back to ‘This is your unlife’, Angel…you kill your family…sire Drusilla…not one of your brighter moves by the way—you know that woman is a certifiable nutjob…of course you know, you made her that way…yadda, yadda, yadda…she sires Spike…who, the last I heard has been sorta kinda castrated thanks to Uncle Sam…well, not now, but he will be…anyway, he’s Buffy’s problem…blah, blah, blah…you kill a gypsy princess and her clan curses you with a soul…how am I doing so far?” She finished breathlessly as she sat down, handing the cup full of blood to the vampire sitting across from her. “Get some cinnamon next time you go to the store—it goes pretty good with the blood—but stay away from the nutmeg, ok—I don’t need you tripping out on me now—we got some important stuff to do.”

Barely concealing his astonishment at how much this stranger knew about him and his past, the brooding vampire asked, his voice edged with growing tension and frustration, “How do you know so much about me—you’re not human…not completely…and you’re not a vampire…so who and what are you?”

“Long story.” Cordelia answered with an amused smile as she saw him take at first a tentative sip, then, a heartier draught from his cup. “Sorry, but I had to kinda guess at how warm to make it—if you had a microwave, I’d have just nuked it for about a minute or so…”

“Microwave…nuke it?” Angel asked, a look of genuine confusion on his face.

Realizing that she’d slipped once again, Cordelia chuckled. “Forget about it.” Then, getting serious, she then returned to her future partner’s original question. “Ok, short version—I’m a Seer…the Powers send me these really bad visions at really bad times, and they sent me a really ugly one where some vamp cult’s gonna try to raise the Master and open the Hellmouth and…” To Angel’s surprise, the sure and confident voice that had been talking to him cracked momentarily, “I saw you lying on the floor here in a lot of pain after drinking some blood—I think someone poisoned it.”

Shaking his head, the tormented vampire sarcastically quipped, “Lady, I don’t know if you’re just a little crazy…or a lot…The Master disappeared years ago, and as far as someone poisoning me…” He then laughed bitterly, “They’d be doing me a favor!”

Angel then stopped short his rant as a glazed look overcame the woman sitting across from him. “What is it?” He asked in a moment of genuine concern as the stranger sat quietly.

Coming out of her trance, Cordelia then said in a soft, shaky voice, “Vision. A demon in Waverly Park…big and scaly…a couple necking in a parked car…” She then looked the ensouled vampire square in his eyes, “You’ve got to go and kill it...now”

“Why?” Angel replied with a snort as he bowed his head. “It’s not my concern.”

“Not your concern??” Standing straight up, Cordelia looked down on the vampire sitting down before her in disbelief, trying her best to reconcile this sulking figure with the champion that she had come to know and love as her best friend. “Not your concern!!??” She all but shouted as Cordelia the Queen took center stage. “Those people need you and you mean to tell me you’re just gonna just sit there on your bony undead vampire ass—all because of what a bunch of morons did to you in the Hyperion a few years ago? Hell, you’re dead—you got better! That couple in the park’s not going to!”

Then, snorting her disgust as the tormented vampire just sat there brooding, the time traveling seer picked up an empty paper bag. “Well, if you don’t have the guts to do something about it—I guess I’m gonna have to.” With that, she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door as she left, not even bothering looking back at the stunned figure sitting, looking down at his now half-empty cup of rapidly cooling blood.

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“Gotta do everything myself…” The seer grumbled as she opened the glass case on the corridor wall outside Angel’s apartment. Then, taking out the fire ax, she hefted it momentarily, finding its balance, before slipping it into the paper bag she carried with her. She then glanced back at the now closed apartment door, hoping against hope that it would open, signaling that her future partner had come to his senses. But, the hopeful look on the young brunette’s face was soon replaced by one of disgust as the door remained closed. “Loser!” She sneered as she turned her back and strode out into the night to the sounds of Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” coming from someone’s radio…

The eastern world it is explodin',
Violence flarin', bullets loadin',
You're old enough to kill but not for votin',
You don't believe in war, what's that gun you're totin',
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin',
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
Can't you see the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be noone to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

As Angel sat down, head bowed, he reflected on the strange woman’s words, remembering how, when he had reached out that one time in 1952 he had been repaid by being hanged by a mad lynch mob. Didn’t she understand? Now, that little slip of a half-breed…provided she was telling the truth about her visions…was going forth all on her own to slay a demon? Why should he care if she gets herself killed along with those others? ‘Better to stay here and drink my blood in peace.’ He thought as he looked at the empty saucepan in the sink. “She said it tastes good with cinnamon.” The tormented vampire said to himself as he slipped on his leather coat before slipping out into the night as well.

Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
Handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
And marches alone can't bring integration,
When human respect is disintegratin',
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when you return, it's the same old place,
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
Hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

****************************************

Soon after entering the park she saw it—green, large scales, spiked back, with claws and lots of teeth, cutting deep gashes into the side of the blue Pontiac GTO, the young couple cowering in the back seat.

Brandishing her ax, Cordelia, not waiting for fear to overcome her, charged. Taking the demon by surprise, the seer’s wild swing made contact with its side, causing the fearsome creature to howl in pain and rage as yellow ichor spurted out from the wound. Swinging with his club like arm as Cordelia tried vainly to pull the ax head out of its flesh, the demon struck the young woman on her side, causing her to stagger to the ground from the hammer like blow. Looking up, Cordelia gasped as she saw her opponent rear back for the killing blow. Saying her last goodbyes, the time traveling seer laughing inwardly at the irony of her dying before she was even born, looked on with amazement as a growling black clad figure leaped on to the back of the fearsome demon, grasping its neck with his strong arms.

“Angel.” Cordelia gasped in relief as she immediately recognized her current and future partner, even in the dark and with his game face on.

The demon, reaching back, picked up the vampire, throwing him over his shoulder as Cordelia, struggling to her feet, made her way to the car. Angel, immediately seeing the strange woman’s intentions, quickly regained his feet. Then, charging, he grappled with his foe, ignoring the claws raking his side, buying time for the seer to see to the safety of the two innocents.

Reaching the car, Cordelia sighed in relief as she saw that the young man had already managed to clamber to the driver’s seat. “Get the hell outta here!” She yelled as he immediately turned the key to the car, its V8 engine firing up immediately. “Go!” The seer shouted as the boy quickly put the muscle car into gear, taking off with a squeal of tires. Turning her attention back to the fight, she saw that the creature was gaining ground on Angel, his teeth coming awfully close to the vampire’s neck. Grabbing a large tree branch that had fallen to the ground, the plucky young woman charged into the fight, clubbing the demon in the head with her makeshift bat.

Howling his rage, the monster released his hold on Angel just enough to allow the vampire to turn the tables on his foe. Snatching the ax out of the creature’s side, the ensouled vampire struck at the neck of the demon. Cleaving into its flesh, the ax, with his superhuman strength giving it added momentum, sliced clean through, severing the head with one blow. With a sickly thump, the body slumped to the ground, joining its head.

Looking down as the creature dissolved into a multicolored goop, Cordelia shook her head, cracking a slight smile as she noticed her partner’s side. “First, my place to get supplies—then back to yours to patch you up.” Seeing him about to protest, she silenced him with a glare and a raised hand. “And I don’t wanna hear a word from you. I said I’m gonna patch you up and that’s that—end of subject.”

Seeing the look of determination on the young stranger’s face, Angel merely nodded his head. As Cordelia led the way to her apartment, all the tormented vampire could do was shake his head as he tried to figure out just who and what this strange woman was.

TBC...