Too Expensive
It was getting late Cordelia thought, glancing out of the window at the darkening city. She had much better things to be doing that sitting here, in Angel Investigations office, typing things into a computer. So maybe she wasn't sure what those things were right now, but this was Los Angeles, there was always something better to be doing. Angel's overtime rate had better be pretty damn good.
Out in the corridor she heard the door click. Probably Angel she thought, come back home for a good shadowy brood before going back out to rescue kittens or whatever. That guy needs a hobby, like knitwear modelling or something.
The office door opened, and when Cordelia looked up the silhouette filling the doorway was definitely not Angel, not Wesley either. It was a woman, tall, skinny, legs up to her shoulders and dark red lipstick.
"Hi!" Cordelia chimed, smiling in a helpful sort of way. "Welcome to Angel Investigations, we help the helpless! As long as they're the paying helpless."
The woman smiled in a way that was just this side of a smirk. She stepped into the office closing the door behind her with a click. Reaching into her business suit pocket she pulled out a card, stepped forward and handed it to Cordelia.
"Lilah Morgan" she said.
Cordelia looked at the card. There was the name Lilah Morgan alright, but it wasn't that which caught her eye. It was the names above it. 'Wolfram and Hart'.
"You're an evil lawyer." Cordelia said looking up. "I warn you, there's a crossbow under this desk lady. And I'm not afraid to use it." That was a lie, the crossbow was there alright, but Cordelia couldn't tell the trigger from the safety catch. Angel had showed her, now she wished she'd listened.
"You won't need it, and yeah, I'm an evil lawyer. But I'm here on business, not mindless violence." Lilah said smiling.
"Well, I hate to break it to you but Angel's not here. So I guess your business has been cut short." Cordelia told her coldly.
Lilah stepped forward and placed on hand on Cordelia's desk so she could lean across it toward Cordelia. "It's not Angel I'm here to see" she said, "it's you. Cordelia Chase right?"
"So what?" Cordelia said defiantly. She didn't like the look of this woman and no one had expected a member of the big bad lawyer society to just stroll into their offices for a chat.
"I've come to make you an offer Miss Chase. You're from Sunnydale right?" Lilah leaned back and started to move around the desk. Cordelia stayed sat firmly where she was, this bitch wasn't going to scare her off. "Sunnydale, the Hellmouth. Tough gig for a teenager. Angel's from Sunnydale too isn't he? You knew him there right?"
Now the woman was stood right behind the desk. Cordelia moved the chair so she was facing her, but refused to be moved. The woman, Lilah, seemed to be waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, I knew Angel in Sunnydale."
"Did you know him well?" Lilah said, her eyes fixed on Cordelia's own.
"Why should I tell you?" Cordelia sniped.
Lilah smiled and took another step forward. She was definitely starting to intrude into Cordelia's comfort zone.
"Wolfram and Hart would like to make you an offer Miss Chase. Work for us. You know Angel better than anyone else we have. Work for us and I promise you you'll get the best of everything. The best money can buy, and you'll have plenty of money." Lilah leaned down toward Cordelia as she said it, her eyes bright.
The best money could buy. Cordelia loved the best of things. She'd had all the best of things, and then they'd been snatched away from her by repo men and the IRS. Now this woman was offering them back to her on a silver platter.
"You're evil." Cordelia said bluntly.
"Yes, I am." Lilah said. And as she said it her arm reached out and she lightly touched the collar of Cordelia's top, running her fingers along the fabric. Cordelia fought the urge to move away, she wouldn't give the bitch the satisfaction.
"Don't you think that's a problem?" Cordelia said frostily.
"No". Lilah said shortly, her fingers trailing along Cordelia's top until suddenly they slipped onto the smooth skin of her neck. Cordelia stiffened, suddenly feeling afraid but unwilling to show it.
"Well it is. A problem for me." Cordelia tried to keep her voice steady, but knew from Lilah's smile that she could hear the nervousness in it. Lilah's fingers drifted smoothly down her neck to her chest where they drew circles against Cordelia's skin.
"Why? We won't ask you to hurt anyone. You'll just be an advisor, out resident expert on vampires with souls. And in return we'll give you so much." As she spoke Lilah's hand moved, sliding under Cordelia's shirt and under her bra so that Lilah was cupping Cordelia's breast, her fingers squeezing ever so slightly.
Cordelia's breath caught and she found she couldn't move. She kept her eyes locked with Lilah's out of sheer determination and pride, forcing herself to relax enough to speak.
"You'll use what I tell you" she said, voice quivering. "You'll use it to hurt Angel."
Lilah smiled that half-smirk again. Her hand moved, the thumb coming to rest over Cordelia's nipple where it rubbed in little circular motions. Cordelia kept their gazes locked and her expression defiant despite her acute awareness of every move of Lilah's hand.
"We'll use whatever you tell us however with think it should be used" Lilah said. "We don't want to hurt Angel if we can possibly avoid it. He's important to the company, a major player. Besides this isn't about Angel, this is about you, what we can offer you."
"What makes you think I want what you can offer me?" Cordelia said, keeping her voice steady.
"Because we can offer you anything you want." Lilah's hand moved away from Cordelia's breast, sliding out from under her shirt and bra, and her fingers tapped a rhythm as they slid down her side to her thigh. "Money, fame, glory, you want to be an actress don't you? We can make you an actress. We can make your life perfect." The fingers slid up Cordelia's thigh, under her skirt and Lilah's warm hand came to rest on her hip. Cordelia stopped breathing. "Money, fame, glory... pleasure."
"What makes you think I want those things?" Cordelia said, knowing that she sounded unconvincing.
"Everyone wants those things Cordelia. And I've done a bit of research on you. You had most of those things, don't you want them back?"
Lilah's hand left a hot trail, under underwear, over warm skin, to rest between Cordelia's legs. Lilah pressed against her with only the faintest pressure, but it was enough to send shockwaves straight to her brain. Unconsciously Cordelia shifted to press herself more firmly against Lilah's hand.
"Um, well yeah." Cordelia was painfully aware that she had lost her much prized cool. "But... I don't..."
"Don't what?" Lilah said, smirking. One finger slid smoothly against a very sensitive place and Cordelia's entire body trembled. It was so tempting. Lilah and what she was offering were so tempting. And what Lilah was doing felt so good and would it really matter just to let it go, what they wanted wasn't so bad. And everything would be and feel so good.
"Anything you want Cordelia." Lilah murmured. "All you have to do is say yes." Another finger rubbed against her, and Cordelia's hips rocked with their motion.
"All you have to do is say yes and I can give it all to you." The fingers teased against her, touching places that made Cordelia shudder with pleasure.
All she had to do was say yes.
But no. Because Cordelia wasn't that person, however selfish and vapid she might be accused of being, she wasn't that person. It hurt to say no and turn away all her dreams, but eventually it would hurt much more to say yes.
She grabbed Lilah's wrist firmly and pulled it away, part of her crying out at the loss. She looked Lilah straight in the eye, all trace of insecurity gone.
"Nice try bitch." Cordelia said, her voice carrying all it's trademark sarcasm. "But I'm not the stupid little girl you think I am. So you can take your money, and you can keep your hands to yourself."
The look of shock on Lilah's face was clear. Cordelia couldn't help but smile bitchily, knowing that Lilah had been so convinced she'd won.
"Now I'd run along if I were you, Angel's got to come home soon." Cordelia flashed Lilah a quick cold smile before turning back to her computer work. A few seconds passed before she looked back, Lilah was still there, her face expressionless.
"You still here? I said goodbye. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."
She looked back to her computer, pretending to work although really she was focused completely on what Lilah was doing. Eventually she heard the click of the door opening and then shutting.
Cordelia turned away from the computer screen toward the window, looking out onto the city in silence.
Ten minutes later the door opened again. This time there were no high-heeled legs, no business suit and no blood red lips. Angel walked in, pausing at the sight of Cordelia looking out the window.
"Everything okay?" He said with a touch of concern.
Cordelia turned. Her smile was back in place. "Yeah, everything's fine."
"You sure?" Angel said stepping toward the desk. "Anything happen?"
Cordelia shrugged. "Nah, nothing. I was just thinking about stuff."
"Stuff?" Angel asked.
"Stuff I want."
"Oh." The look of concerned confusion left Angel's face. "Like clothes and shoes and things."
"Yeah, things." Cordelia smiled. "I was just thinking about how sometimes even the nicest stuff is too expensive."