Midnight Fawn: Part Three

All week, Cordelia had been dreaming; not unusual to anyone else, but she never dreamed anymore. Her visions came when she was awake and forced her to take notice of them, but her sleep was usually simply oblivion. Lately she had received the same jumbled images she had in her visions, places, strange creatures which appeared to have the bodies of men but the faces of demons, but were yet not vampires, and always the dream ended the same way. She'd open a book, the same kind of old dusty book she always seemed to have to dig through for Angel, and it would be written as plain as if it were in a newspaper; "Your warrior is falling, only you can break his fall" - she didn't understand what it had meant until on Tuesday, the day after Daimhina had arrived, Angel had been so badly injured. Cordelia now assumed it was a message that she had to take care of him.

Their strange house guest seemed to be doing just that - indeed she rarely left his side. While Cordelia ran the business and continued to research Lasair demons, Daimhina would sit with Angel, hold his hand, and speak to him quietly in a language Cordelia did not know, but had been told by Angel on one occasion when she'd been alone with him was Old Gaelic. His condition had only improved when Cordelia had taken care of him herself one day when Daimhina was off patrolling, looking for some kind of clue, and he'd told her that it was only because he loved her and that he'd get better without her, only more slowly. Of course, Cordelia had been suspicious, and the next night had told the two she was going out, but had slipped back on herself through the sewer entrance in the garage, and stayed behind concealed in the upper section of Angel's apartment, where she could see both of them clearly and hear every word.

For over an hour Cordelia thought her suspicions had been unfounded, but had soon begun to pay attention when Daimhina had made him drink something green and smelling very much like the potion she had made to conjure a few days before. Cordelia had looked up the herbs she'd used, among them the one Angel had been able to identify was used as a powerful tranquilliser, and the amount Daimhina had with her was enough to kill a human. Within a few minutes he was again unconscious, and Cordelia watched as Daimhina produced several items, talismans and stones, which she arranged on the bedcovers, and began to chant in a low voice words that Cordelia recognised somehow, but she didn't know from where.

As she chanted a haze seemed to appear around her, which then collocated into a translucent mass roughly the shape of her body in front of her. Cordelia watched as the haze seemed to detach, Daimhina slumped back in her chair, and the haze began covering the space between her and Angel. Reaching out with one invisible limb, the hazy form carefully turned Angel's head to one side, exposing his jugular, which was already marked by several white lesions. Cordelia dug her nails into her palms to prevent herself screaming as the haze bent further, she saw Angel frown slightly in his sleep as two fresh bite marks appeared, and the hazy form began to drink, only stopping when Daimhina began her chant again. At that, it was reabsorbed into her, she cleared away the talismans and stones, and began to clean the fresh wounds in Angel's neck. Sneaking away, petrified and almost crying, Cordelia let herself back in by the front door of the office, and put her acting skills into practice to get Daimhina alone with her. Taking a deep breath, she bounced brightly into the room and flashed the pair a big smile;

"Sleeping again?" she asked sweetly, stroking Angel's hair back from his temples,

"Yes, he's been fed and he looks like he's doing well, don't you think?"

She couldn't help noticing that the taller woman looked more enlivened than ever, her eyes glowing more noticeably.

"Well I'm sure he would be if a big old invisible demon hadn't fed from him!" Cordelia's laugh was so false she almost kicked herself, and she saw that Daimhina had become suspicious,

"Say you've been with him so long, why don't you take a break? There's some coffee made upstairs"

Daimhina seemed to relax and smiled a little, rising from her chair,

"Certainly. I'm thirsty now I think about it"

*Not that you haven't had plenty to drink* though Cordy bitterly, but continuing to smile she followed Daimhina up to the office, and waited until she was sipping a cup of coffee before she tried to make conversation;

"So, how long have you had an immature Lasair demon inhabiting your oh-so imposing body? And was it a plan that you had Angel to feed from or just good luck?" For once, Cordelia's lack of tact gave her an advantage, and before the demon had reacted she'd already landed her a good kick to the face that had sent her sprawling across the floor *Thank god I trained with him* Cordy thought, before getting herself into a fighting stance and continuing to scuffle with the demon, before she was blasted back with a rush of heat that sent her flying back onto a desk;

"Foolish human! Didn't you read your books correctly?" The voice that emanated was indeed Daimhina's, but it growled and crackled, and had developed a quality unknown to mankind's waking days, present in nightmares, "I felt you today, and I dismissed it as fancy, but you watched me take his power, and I'm almost glad you did it now - for I will never need it again!" with that there was another fierce rush of heat, and where Daimhina had stood was a pillar of flame, it twisted itself into the shape she'd seen before, and then into the form of what they'd so recently killed - a Lasair demon. but not any Lasair, what Cordy had seen in her books as a mother Lasair, a breeder. For what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes, Cordelia attacked the Mother Lasair with anything she could lay her hands to, getting only in response a vicious laughter which sent out a cloud of flame. It was while this hellfire laugh was pealing out that Cordelia had leaned forward slightly, and a tongue of flame had singed one lock of her hair. Fury overtook her, and lunging over to Angel's desk she pulled out the fighting axe that was still lying wickedly sharp *Here goes nothing* she steeled herself, and with one mighty heave flung the axe at the laughing demon. There was another massive rush of flame as with a hell-born screech the demon's head was severed, and then nothing but a fine ash settling over everything. No Lasair to be seen.

"That's exactly how it happened, I swear!" Cordelia squeezed Angel's hand for effect, and got another grateful smile in return,

"Cordelia Chase, Demon Slayer. That has a ring to it"

"I think not!! I'll only ever be the Slayer when it comes to dating"

"Well, you did just destroy an entire nest of Lasairs. When the Mother goes up, the Spawn go too. That impresses me enough" Angel closed his eyes again and enjoyed Cordelia's caresses.

After she'd realised Daimhina had been drugging and draining him, she'd done her best to feed him in his unconscious state, and within half an hour it had been effective and he'd opened his eyes. She'd filled him in on the events, and was now sitting with him, making sure he'd be all right.

"Believe me I'm grateful. By the way, I was a little suspicious too, I checked her out. She really was a relative of mine. The last as it happens"

"So you're not the only demon in the family'" Angel laughed slightly and shook his head, "She wasn't born a demon, Lasairs need bodies while they're immature. Apparently Daimhina Cevin really was on her way to help, but a Lasair got to her before she got to us"

"I'd say this is a good reason not to visit your relatives"

"That's terrible Cordy, but I forgive it" Cordelia pushed a half-full pint glass of blood into his hands and he groaned slightly, trying to push it away, "No more! That's the fourth pint"

"Most vampires have about eight a night, and you're ill! Drink it before it gets cold"

He consented and set the empty glass down, taking Cordelia's hand back, "So what made you so mad that you threw an axe'"

She shifted him a little so she could sit with her arms around him, feeling him rest his head on her shoulder and close his eyes. Cordelia smiled back, and told him how she'd become a Demon Slayer for a few minutes as he started falling asleep;

"Nobody messes with my hair"