Chapter 11

"You haven't lost your touch, luv," Spike complimented Drusilla as he admired her handiwork. "Well done."

"She learned from the best," Angelus smirked, and Drusilla beamed with joy at their approval. Of course, the fact that they were there only as projections of her own imagination took a little of the meaning out of that approval. But she could easily forget that. Drusilla was very good at forgetting inconvenient facts.

Cordelia, only semi-conscious, was hanging in chains from the wall in front of them. Behind them, Doyle was trapped inside a column of what looked like plastic. Angelus turned to survey it with a critical eye.

"On the other hand, my dear, this looks cheap. If you're going to trap a fly in amber, you can at least make it good-looking amber. This reminds me of something a thirteen-year-old would wear dangling from her wrist."

"I'll fix it then," Dru said eagerly, and waved her hand. The column in which Doyle was held prisoner transformed into a crystal prism. "See, the prison is a prism, and the prism is a prison. Do you like that?"

"Very much. Did the Judge accept your invitation?"

Dru sighed. "Ah, he was unavoidably detained, in several places at once, and Darla is in the midst of a very important engagement and could not be disturbed."

"Pity," Spike said brusquely, "But, no matter. Let the torturing begin."

"You always were far too impatient," Angelus reproved. "You obviously don't understand what this little exercise is all about."

"Isn't it about getting the cheerleader dead? And keeping the mick that way? Those both sound good to me."

"Death by itself is a shoddy piece of work. It's only the raw material, nothing more. It's what you create with it that matters. Take Cordelia and Doyle, for example. It's far too easy to use mere physical pain to make a person beg for death. There's no challenge in that. Taking a person with a strong will to live, and making them want just as badly to die - now that's the art."

Cordelia half-opened her eyes, then quickly shut them again, realizing that she was still naked. "You're not real. You're not real," she repeated to herself.

"I'm just as real as I need to be," Angelus said smoothly. "Now, since you've decided to join us, shall we move on to the main event?"

She opened her eyes reluctantly. "You're just an illusion. Go away. I'm tired of arguing with people who aren't really here. Or vampires, whatever."

Dru made a tsk-tsk sound. "It's a naughty little one. Aren't you going to play the game?"

"No more games. I'm not going to entertain you any longer. "

"Giving up on the Water of Life? What a pity. You were so close to restoring Doyle to life, too." Angelus let out a mock-sigh. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to kill you, then."

"Like there was ever another choice!" Cordelia scoffed. She caught sight of Doyle, trapped in the prism behind the vampires. His mouth was moving, trying to tell her something, but she couldn't hear.

"There is always another choice. Haven't you learned that yet .... princess?" Angelus taunted.

Spike grunted. "Just kill her and get it over with. This is a bore." He lit up a cigarette, and Angelus took it from his mouth without asking. He walked toward Cordelia with the lit cigarette in his hand.

"Oh, I thought mere physical pain was beneath you," Cordelia mocked, trying desperately not to show her fear. "Looks to me like you're the one giving up."

Angelus glanced appraisingly from the burning cigarette to Cordelia's face. "I never rule out any possibilities, but, what did you have in mind?"

"Let's make this game worth playing." Cordelia drew herself up as straight as she could in her shackles, trying not to look at the glowing tip of the cigarette. "You said you want me to be willing to die, right?"

"I'm listening." Angelus brought the cigarette close to her face, but did not burn her. He watched her closely, smiling, as she struggled not to flinch away.

"Drusilla said that she has the Water of Life. She said that Doyle could come back. Was any of that true?"

"Oh, it's true enough. But why would I want Doyle to come back?" Angelus glanced back over his shoulder at the trapped Doyle. "The soul wants him back. That's reason enough for me to want him to stay dead, don't you think?"

"What can I offer you to send him back? What do I have that you want?"

In response, Angelus stared openly at Cordelia's nude body. "What do you think? As sacrifices go, you're second-rate. You're not even a virgin any more. What do you think you have to offer?"

"Well, you could always turn me. I'm going to die anyway. Make me a vampire, if that means Doyle can go back."

Angelus pretended to consider the offer. "Interesting. Listen to your spoiled brat whining forever? I don't think so. Next suggestion."

"All right." Cordelia's voice was quiet now, her desperation showing. "You wanted to take away what matters most to me, right?"

"I'm listening."

"Here's one that I just know you're going to like. Take away my memories of him first, and then you can kill me to bring him back, and I won't even know why. I won't even understand," her voice broke a little but then she forced herself to continue. "You should get a big kick out of that, watching me not even knowing why it is that I'm going to die. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Hmmm. I'm impressed," Angelus complimented her. "I didn't think you were capable of such a fine sense of irony. You've been around me too long, you're actually starting to understand me." Suddenly he grinned broadly. "Now, that's scary. All right, I like it. We'll take your memories of Doyle away first, and then kill you."

"Don't forget the part about sending him back alive."

"Forget? Oh, I don't forget anything. You, on the other hand, are about to forget everything."

"But, the Water of Life - " Cordelia exclaimed, and then fell silent as Angelus waved his hand and her mind suddenly spun into a whirl of confusion.

She closed her eyes, dizzy, and when she opened them again, Angelus and Spike were gone.

She blinked slowly, disoriented. Hadn't she just been talking to someone?

She couldn't remember.

She looked down at herself, and gasped. She was naked, hanging in chains from a wall. What was she doing here?

"Are we having fun?" Drusilla asked.

Cordelia was too confused to reply. She wasn't sure, but she thought that she vaguely recognized the woman standing there with a pleased expression on her face. Next to her, a man was trapped in some kind of column. He was staring at her body.

"Ewww! Somebody get me some clothes!"

Drusilla clapped her hands and laughed.