"A bed" she thought, "Why am I tied to a bed?"
"What the hell to you mean, you think Angel took her?" Xander looked at Buffy hoping for a more positive response. He had held his anger in as much as possible as they had made their way back to the school library.
"All I know is I turned around and she was gone. I think it's highly probably that she was either taken or....,"she replied.
"No don't say it," Xander said as he walked away from Buffy. He walked over to a filing cabinet, which was in the corner of the library and rested his arms and head on the top of it. He exploded. He kicked and punched the filing cabinet, as if he could draw blood from it, he did not stop till blood was spilt from his hands. He slowly turned around and addressed the group.
" If that blood sucking parasite has hurt her, I will kill him. I won't stop till he, or I are dead."
"Xander, think of what you are saying. We have to think about this if we are to save her." Willow advised.
"Willow she has become my life," tears started to swell up in Xander's eyes, "we are together now. I can't be without her. You know what I mean."
Willow looked at him. Trying to understand exactly what he was saying.
"I do, "Buffy said softly looking him straight in the eyes. Her eyes showed the inner torment she was feeling. She moved towards him and put her arm around him. "Xander you will not lose her. I won't have you go through what I did."
"So Cordelia, you always wanted to share a bed with me. What's it like." Angel asked while stroking her hair, "Oh that's right you can't speak. Must be an unusual experience for you not being able to have the last word."
Cordelia had seen Angel appear out of the shadows. He mockingly called he name as he did. She watched in terror as he moved towards her position. She couldn't think about what Angel was going to do to her. She had already decided that unless Buffy came to rescue her she did not want to think about her future. Angel came over and lay down on the bed with her. His hand moved over and for a minute she thought he was going to strangle her. Instead he touched her hair. She felt like she was going to be sick.
"C'mon Cordelia, this is your fantasy isn't it. You always wanted what Buffy had."
Angel moved his hand down from Cordelia's hair, over her face, lightly touching her cheeks, "It's almost worth taking the gag off, just to savor you lips, " he whispered. He then moved his hand down further, running along the front of her dress.
"Angel, let me kill her now," came a voice from the dark.
"Dru, you know my rules. We have to get the catch, before the bait can be eaten," Angel said stopping his caressing. Drusilla came out of the shadows and sat on the opposite side of the bed, so that Cordelia was sandwiched between the two.
"But after that, I have her, can't I Angel,"
"Of course you can Dru, you can have her, while I have her boyfriend," Angel said glancing down at Cordelia. Cordelia tried to scream.
Buffy, Willow, Oz and Giles were sitting around a table formulating a plan. All had agreed that this would be the hardest thing they would have had to do. Xander sat by himself. Buffy turned to look at him hoping that his anger would not hinder him in what was to come. She wanted to get him in on the conversation.
"Xander what do you think?" she asked hoping he would offer some suggestions. Xander just shrugged his shoulders. Buffy turned to Giles, "We have to get him doing something."
"I know," Giles replied, "Xander could you go and get all the weaponry ready?"
Xander got up and went over to the cupboard where all the weaponry was kept. It took all of his willpower not to grab a few crossbows and go after her. The bottles of Holy Water caught his eye. His mouth started to curl up at the sides, in the form of a sadistic grin rather than a smile. He had a plan. One that he hoped would cause a great deal of pain to Angel, if not killing him.
Cordelia was relieved that both Angel and Drusilla had moved away from her. Her mind really wasn't on herself. She kept hearing Angel's last words, ..... "when I have her boyfriend."
A number of vampires came into the room. Cordelia tried to close off her thoughts, seeing she could hear what they were saying.
"We should just kill her now, " Spike argued, " this game's pointless. Why worry about the boy, we should be killing the Slayer."
Angel had by this time had more than enough of Spike's objections, "Listen Spike, if you don't like it, there's the door. Remember that you failed pretty miserably in getting the Slayer. To kill Buffy, you need to kill her from the inside. First you take her friends, then her family and then maybe you will be able to kill her."
" Well Angel, I am telling you that if you don't get some results tonight, you and me are going to have to have a talk."
Angel looked like he would strike Spike there and then. Instead he smiled, "I will be looking forward to it Spike."
"C'mon let's get going already," Xander was calling from the door.
"Just a sec, Xander," Giles said, "Buffy over here".
Buffy came over to Giles, who was looking at one of the Holy Water containers, "One of them is missing some fluid," he said.
"Wow there's a puzzle," she replied, "who cares, there's plenty left. We have to get going. You grab those three containers and I grab the rest."
With that Buffy and Giles caught up with Willow, Oz and Xander at the door. Rushing past them, Buffy turned around, "Well are you ready? " She kept on walking.
Willow and Oz immediately followed, with Giles just behind them. Xander looked at them for a moment and then tapped his jacket pocket.
"You don't know just how ready I am," he said to himself, before setting off with them.
Go To Chapter 11
"Ahhh..." Cordelia's scream filled the hall. Angel had removed the gag. Cordelia assumed it was only to hear her screams, and judging from the smile that grew on his face, it seemed to be true.
Angel crouched over her, running a knife along her forearm from elbow to wrist. Cordelia's arms looked like a tiger had mauled her. She had parallel lines running along the front of the arms, the blood of which was congealing on the mattress beneath her.
"Oh come-on Cordelia, show a bit of mettle, I haven't even got to you pretty face yet," Angel smirked as he ran the knife across her chest.
"Why don't you just kill me you bastard," Cordelia shouted at him, spitting in his face at the same time. Angel roughly struck her across the cheek.
"Now now, be nice. Your screams are music to my ears ... but I am not against putting the gag back on," Angel said. " You are alive for one reason, you don't matter enough to kill now. Once I have an audience, then it's different. Killing in front of loved ones always delivers a more powerful effect. It's sort of poetic in a way, " he reached slightly ran his fingers across Cordelia's lips, "although I am toying with the idea of letting you go, after your face has had a few touch ups, I think it would do wonders for your personality."
He picked up the knife and brought it closer to her face. "No. I think that having Xander see his girlfriend a bloody mess than killed in front of his eyes should be more than enough stimulus for the desired effect." He brought the knife down and rested it next to her left ear, "How would you like a quick and easy face lift?"
Cordelia screamed again and tried to push Angel away but could only thrash on the bed as her bounds were to tight.
"Now, now Cordelia, don't move. I would hate to poke an eye out," he cautioned, "well actually I couldn't give a damn, but Drusilla has already got dibs on the eyes."
Before Angel could start cutting another Vampire came up behind him, "Angel, they are coming, should we go and meet them?"
" No let them come. Once inside I want guards posted on all exits," he shoved the vampire away, who crawled away like a dog that knew he had done something wrong and was hoping for forgiveness.
"Ah sweet Cordelia, our time has come to an end. It was short but ever so sweet," Angel said. He then put the gag over Cordelia's mouth and retreated. Cordelia looked around. She could see no one. She knew they were there, but they were in hiding. Waiting for her friends to come. She knew she could not warn them.
Buffy and the Gang were crouched behind some crates about fifty feet away from the entrance to the warehouse.
"O.K. guys we have probably already been spotted. I expect them to come from all sides. Giles and I will go up front with the crossbows, but remember we only have ten arrows between us. Once they attack there will not be anytime to reload. I know the rest of you are not trained for this but this is Cordelia's only hope. If she is alive, they won't keep her that way for long," Buffy patted Xander on the shoulder for support.
Buffy, Giles and the others went towards the entrance. While they were not running, they were walking at a fairly brisk pace. Giles and Buffy at front, Willow and Oz in the middle and Xander making up the rear.
Buffy was very surprised that they had made it to the doorway without any sign of attack. She motioned for everyone to stop. She poked her head around the corner. She couldn't see anyone, she could feel them, but there was no one in sight. She moved the party forward.
The pace had slowed, with so little light to guide them it would be difficult to see a surprise attack, even more so if running.
"Giles, I don't like this," Buffy said.
"Neither do I. They should have attacked," Giles replied as they reached the entrance of the main hall. "I think they have something planned for us in there and I don't think we will like it."
When the reached the entrance, Buffy had motioned everyone to stop. She went by herself a couple of paces forward. She still couldn't see anyone. She moved further forward.
"Buffy wait!" Giles said as loud as he dared.
Buffy didn't respond. Giles looked at her and decided he had no choice. He motioned the rest of the group forward. They moved slowly towards the center of the hall. They reached the old wooden table and eight chairs that surrounded it. They still couldn't see anyone and apart from Buffy's feelings had no tangible evidence that any vampires were there.
Suddenly there was movement. A footstep to the left. Shuffling of legs on the other side. Then suddenly a huge bang as the front entrance door was slammed shut. Vampires, maybe a dozen or more came out of the shadows as if appearing in mid air. The came slowly forward. Forming a circle around the group. A red light filled the hall and in front of them a large black curtain fell down.
Willow let out a scream. Xander was about to run forward but Buffy held him back. She looked straight ahead. The hate in her heart growing steadily. In front of them was Angel, holding a knife to Cordelia's throat. On either side of them were Spike and Drusilla. Cordelia was heavily bleeding from her arms and face. Although the wounds on her face seemed to be from being struck, the wounds on her arms were definitely inflicted by a blade. She was gagged and tied down on a bed.
Buffy knew that bed. Yet another reminder of a night which has turned out to be memorable in all the wrong ways. It was the bed that she and Angel made love on. In a way it was the bed Angel died on as well. Now it looked like it was going to be where Cordelia died as well.
"Buffy, so nice of you to grace us with your presence. You have missed most of the fun but I assure you the climax will be a killer," Angel said, the last few words coming out in a horrific laugh..
