"Excuse me…may I have this dance?"
Cordelia turned around to see the smiling face of a tall, handsome man.
Well, maybe not as handsome as Angel…but close.
"I know we've never met…but I've been watching you for the past half hour, and I just had to come ask you to dance," the man said with a blush, looking slightly uncomfortable.
Cordelia had to fight back a smile. It was rare she ran into a guy who actually seemed nervous about talking to her. Most of them simply tried to hit on her, no qualms whatsoever. This man was a refreshing change.
What could it hurt? Besides, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of anyone 'evil' tonight, despite her vision. Angel was still searching the club, so he wouldn't care if she had a quick dance. Hell, he probably wouldn't even notice.
"Sure…why not," she replied, flashing the man a smile as she took his offered hand. Might as well get some fun out of the night, Angel obviously wasn't going to provide any.
She stifled a gasp at the electric shock that shot up her arm as her hand made contact with his palm. He however didn't seem to notice anything strange.
Shaking off her sudden foreboding tingle, she let him lead her onto the dance floor, pulling her against him as a slow song began to play. She tried to relax, still feeling slightly uncomfortable at being so close to this man.
He wasn't Angel.
That was the problem.
These days, she couldn't go out on a date, or meet a guy, without comparing him to Angel. It was like he'd invaded her brain. Every time she was with another man, all she could think of was that she wanted to be with Angel.
It didn't help that the vampire had finally accepted that Buffy was no longer a part of his life, especially since his soul was now permanent.
Cordelia closed her eyes, thinking back to the stunned expression on his face when she'd told him what the oracles had told her. Well, on the bright side, he hadn't gone back to Buffy. In fact, when she'd actually gotten up the courage to ask him why, he'd simply smiled and said he'd known from the start they couldn't be together. Besides, she was happy with Riley, and he was happy with his life in LA.
She took some comfort from his words, but found herself more and more frustrated with them as well. Okay, so he wasn't going back to Buffy, there was no happy clause, and the sexual tension between the two of them was almost off the charts.
Not that Angel chose to pay attention to it. The man had denial down to an art form.
Cordelia however, still hadn't learned to take 'no' for an answer.
But lately, it seemed everything she did to try and get him to notice her, failed miserably.
She'd finally come to realize that while he might be aware of the feelings between them, he was never going to act on them, whatever his reason.
She had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that he seemed to believe he'd lose anyone he loved. And while she thought it was a stupid reason to avoid what they could possibly have, she had no intention of losing him, she couldn't blame him for feeling that way. Look at his track record so far…it didn't exactly scream 'perfect relationships.'
But it was frustrating the hell out of her. Especially since the feelings inside her kept growing, threatening to pour out in some crazy demonstration of affection. She couldn't count the times she had to control herself from jumping him while they worked. Only sheer willpower kept her seated at her desk while he paced back and forth in the room next door.
"Your mind seems to be occupied, let me guess, it's another man," her companion said, breaking into her musings. She tried to smile at him, knowing he must be wondering about her silence.
"You could say that, but it's really not important, so tell me a little about yourself…?" she trailed off, stunned to realize she hadn't even asked his name.
"David," he said with a smile.
"Cordelia, nice to meet you," she replied, suddenly realizing how similar this David's eyes were to Angel's. Come to think about it, David did resemble Angel somewhat, maybe it was the spiky hair.
<Great Cordelia, now you're trying to see Angel in every guy you meet>
"So Cordelia, what do you do?" David asked, pulling her slightly closer. She didn't realize her arm had circled his neck or that she'd moved closer to him. She was concentrating on his eyes. They were almost hypnotic. And the intensity of his gaze was sending shivers down her spine.
"I work for a private investigator," she replied, knowing not to say more. Not everyone would understand what Angel Investigations did on a daily basis. Some days, even she didn't.
"So David, what do you do?" she asked, not really caring about his answer, thinking only about how nice it felt to be held in such strong arms.
"I'm an actor," he replied, pulling her closer.
Cordelia barely heard him, she was too busy trying to analyze the feeling that was sweeping through her body.
Desire.
Pure and simple and almost animalistic in nature.
She suddenly found her skin supersensitive to this man's touch, her breathing growing rapid as she unconsciously pressed closer to him.
She didn't notice the small smile that appeared on David's face.
"Actually, I'm a very good actor," he said softly, pulling Cordelia against him until they were pressed tightly together.
Cordelia felt her world spinning, as desire overwhelmed her. She wasn't sure where it came from, but all she knew was that she was incredibly turned on at this moment. And if Angel weren't around to satisfy her, she'd take anyone who could.
Somewhere, deep inside, her conscious must have realized something was wrong with this picture, she'd never acted this way before. But then again, she'd never been this aroused before.
All her senses seemed attuned to touch and feeling. Her body was heated and longing for a man's touch. Her skin was on fire, begging to be touched.
She wanted sex and she wanted it now, with a desperation she'd never felt before in her life.
She suddenly buried her face against David's neck, breathing him in as she planted little kisses against the flesh, rubbing her body against his, desperate for something more.
She moaned softly against his neck, oblivious to the strange smile that appeared on the man's face, or the way his eyes suddenly took on an otherworldly glow as he ran his hands lightly up and down her back, pressing her even closer.
Angel however, noticed immediately and came to a dead stop in the middle of the dance floor.
The vampire had spent the past five minutes looking for anyone or anything who remotely seemed evil. He'd had no luck. Cordelia's vision hadn't been all that helpful this time, simply showing her the club and that something evil lurked inside it.
After realizing that whatever it was either hadn't show up yet, or wasn't going to, he'd made his way back to the bar, searching for his brunette partner.
When he'd seen her empty bar stool, he'd felt the first prickle of unease. Surely nothing had happened to her, surely he would have known if it had. Still, something wasn't right.
He managed to catch the bartender's eye, and asked the man if he'd seen Cordelia. The bartender smiled and pointed towards the dance floor.
Angel turned and felt whatever remained of his undead heart stop beating at the sight that greeted him.
Cordelia, wrapped in another man's arms and obviously enjoying the experience way more than was proper for the situation they were in.
He stared in shock as he watched her arch closer to the man, horrified when he saw she had begun planting kisses along his neck. He fought back a primitive roar.
What the hell was she doing?
He knew there was fire in his eyes as he moved towards the couple. Obviously, something had taken over Cordelia, because despite her reputation, he knew she wouldn't be all over someone like that, not if she was in her right mind.
As he neared the couple, rage clouded his vision as he watched the tall man sliding his hands across Cordelia's back, watching the way her body shuddered and arched into his. He knew his eyes were glowing as he approached, only to come to a dead stop as he noticed what Cordelia was too occupied to.
The man's eyes weren't human.
Leaping into action, he couldn't control the growl that escaped his throat as he reached over and grabbed Cordelia, pulling her away from the man and pushing her behind him, oblivious to her startled shriek.
He faced off with the demon, who's true face now rippled on and off his human façade.
With another growl, Angel launched himself at the creature, surprised to feel the electric jolt that shot through his system as he made contact with it.
Pushing the sensation aside, Angel began to fight, knowing this demon wasn't going to be easy to kill. Especially in a bar full of people. He had to get them outside.
Without consciously thinking about it, rage still flooding his body at the sight of Cordelia in this monster's arms… Angel began pushing the demon towards the front door.
As they continued to exchange blows, Angel felt a strange sense of lethargy come over him. He fought against it with everything in him, suddenly realizing this demon must have some sort of transference effect. Probably transferred by that electric jolt he'd felt. Angel's suspicions were confirmed by the gleeful look he saw appear on the demon's face.
"Fight me all you want, but in the end, you won't be able to fight yourself," it hissed, breaking into laughter that Angel stopped with a punch to the face. The punch also served to send the demon flying through the clubs open doors, landing in an undignified heap in the parking lot.
Angel fought the strange feelings swimming through him, knowing he had to finish this creature off. He slowly advanced on the huddled pile of flesh, feeling the vampire ripple on and off his face.
As he raised a sword to strike, he barely heard the demon's final words.
"My death…means your life," the demon hissed, with another peal of demonic laughter that Angel silenced by severing its head from its body.
He watched in silence as the body shriveled up and turned to dust, blowing away in the wind.
Angel shook himself, wondering what the hell the demon had managed to pass onto him with their contact.
Something he'd obviously already passed onto Cordelia.
Cordelia.
Feeling fear sneak its way through his shifting emotions, he turned and ran back into the bar, worried that Cordelia hadn't followed him out. Something was wrong.