SquidgeWorld Archive

Cordelia sighed as she stared at the pattern of water stains on the ceiling. "This is not where I saw myself ending up when I left home."

"It's a lot harder than you expect. Harder than I expected, anyhow." Her roommate collapsed onto the worn chair, and blew a puff of air towards her red hair, trying to keep it out of her eyes. "On the bright side, my family didn't come here with me."

"Ah, one of those situations." Cordelia sighed, thinking back to Sunnydale, and the lives of some of the people that she'd known. Her parents hadn't been precisely problems, but... Aura's mom with her trampy ways, or Xander's dad. She closed her eyes and took a moment to be glad that she hadn't seen any vampires yet, though she still carried a stake in her large purse and diluted her perfume with holy water. Not seeing any was no reason to become completely careless, right?

"It's just... yeah." MJ sighed, and rubbed at her ankles. "So I came here, thinking that I could become a great actress. That it would be so simple, just audition, rehearse a few times, and poof, instant success."

"Funny how the people suggesting careers never mention that it'll be you and a hundred other desperate girls, or that half the casting directors will want you to let them screw you in return for a chance." Cordelia sighed, remembering the urge to slap the last guy who'd made that suggestion. "I didn't come here to become any variation of prostitute, not even for art."

"Ouch. I keep running into people who tell me that I either need bigger breasts or blonder hair." Her tone was full of tired sympathy.

Glancing over at MJ, Cordelia exclaimed, "What's wrong with your breasts? They look pretty good to me."

"Umm... thanks, I think." MJ blinked, looking a bit surprised.

Cordelia dropped her palm over her face. "Relax, I'm not hitting on you. But they look just fine. Better than Cheryl's, and she got hers done for her sweet sixteen birthday present from her parents."

"Sometimes, I just wish that everything was simple again." MJ muttered, glancing at the window, clearly not thinking about the clear view of another tired brick building.

Cordelia flinched a little at the word 'wish', but she knew what MJ meant. "The way things used to be simple. You knew who was where, and exactly what would go on, who would do what, and how to deal with it."

"Yeah."

"Why don't we go out? I mean, maybe we can't afford to splurge on a day at the spa, but why not jut go out, maybe dance a little?" MJ stood up, her face full of hope. "Anything to get us out of this miserable apartment for a while."

Cordelia stood up, reminding herself that she was lucky to have this miserable apartment, lousy as it was. She was lucky to have a nice roommate like MJ. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'm sure that a pair of hot girls like us can find a little fun, maybe a few guys to smile and flirt with, just a bit of an ego boost."

"As long as they don't get too pushy." MJ muttered. "Maybe I should go with those clunky boots instead of the strappy heels?"

"Only go with the strappy heels if they're sharp enough to hurt someone and solid enough not to break. I can lend you mine, if you like." Cordelia commented, thinking back to a few dates gone bad.

"You must have had a wild time back in California." MJ smiled, and they went to stare at the contents of the pitifully small closet. "Choices, choices."

Cordelia fought off a tear as she remembered how things used to be, with a closet almost as big as this tiny apartment, and rows of shoes. All before Daddy's little creative accounting came to light, naturally. "Okay, maybe there's not a lot to work with, but we can manage."

In the end, they managed to find a pair of suitable outfits. MJ, wearing the clunky boots, a tank top and a sheer overshirt, and a pair of tight jeans fussed with her hair while Cordelia adjusted the fall of the dark blue shirt that fell over her thin black skirt with the slit in the back - in case she had to run away from something - and the strappy heels, then put a coat of mascara onto her lashes. "I'm just glad the blouse covers the scar."

"It is a bit scary looking. How'd you do that anyhow?" MJ asked, grabbing her thin wallet and sliding it into her hip pocket.

"I fell through a patch of bad flooring and found a pipe. I don't recommend it for anyone else, by the way." Cordelia touched on a bit of lipstick and glanced at the mirror. The surroundings were bad, but she still had it. She could still see traces of Queen C.

They shelled out an obnoxious feeling amount for a cab, and went into a local club. It might not be the greatest, but it was at least a step above the Bronze, so Cordelia could cope. For a while, she could almost pretend that everything was good. No money problems, none of Daddy's tax fraud, just her, the music, and admiring eyes.

They left the club before any of the guys admiring her or MJ could get too drunk and obnoxious, and started to walk back towards the apartment. There was a weird noise, sort of a whistly-screech, and a funny shape went overhead, laughing.

"Talk about the creepy villain laugh." Cordelia muttered, rubbing at her arms.

"That must be the Green Goblin." MJ shuddered, and reached for Cordelia. "Let's get home, he's just... too much. I was hoping that he was gone, after the mess during the World Unity festival."

"Bad guys always come back." Cordelia grumbled, walking faster.

"Hey, gals." The voice didn't sound drunken, though he was definitely leering. A man loomed out of the shadows, taller than they were, but almost average looking for the area. He looked a bit faded, not quite well kept, and what were those reddish stains on his shirt sleeves?

"Not that kind of gals, buddy." MJ kept walking.

"If you're not selling, I guess I'll just have to take what I want, won't I?" The man's tone shifted, becoming darker, more of a menacing growl.

"I didn't even realize that those words could be growled." Cordelia whispered, searching for the stake in her purse. This was definitely a vampire, or at least a would-be rapist. He didn't look likely to just go away.

He grabbed at MJ's wrist, and the redhead screamed. Frantically, she tried to yank her hand free, eyes wide and frightened as the man stepped closer. The guy chuckled, an ugly sound full of menace.

Her hand grabbed her perfume, and Cordelia almost growled in frustration. Instead, she kept fumbling for the stake, wondering where all this other stuff had even come from. With her other hand, she held the diluted perfume towards him and sprayed.

A cloud of scent went towards the attacker, some of it settling on MJ as well. The man started to scream, and dropped MJ's hand, spinning to glare at her with jagged fangs.

Cordelia swallowed her scream, and sprayed again, aiming for his eyes. Her hand found the stake, and she grabbed it out, things spilling in her haste. She'd pick them back up later, if they survived this.

He staggered backwards, hands clutching at his eyes as he screamed again.

"What's wrong with his face? What's in that perfume of yours?" MJ gasped, rubbing at her wrist, where bruises were already forming.

With a smile, Cordelia slammed the stake into his chest. Blood spattered in the few moments before he fell to gritty ashes. Relief almost made her fall down, and Cordelia let out her breath slowly. "We're still alive, good."

"Cordelia... what just happened here?" MJ stepped closer, her face a picture of confusion.

Crouching down, Cordelia started stuffing things back into her purse, annoyed that the stake had disintegrate d along with the vampire. "I'll explain everything when we're back at the apartment, you know - inside?"

"Okay..." MJ shook her head, and knelt down, helping re-gather Cordelia's things. "I already had perfume on, I didn't need more. Except that your cloud of perfume just saved our lives."

They scurried back to the apartment, and shut the door, locking it with the knob, the deadbolt and the flimsy little chain. It was unnecessary against vampires and might not hold well against humans, but it made them feel a little safer. Cordelia walked to the couch, taking her shoes off and rotating her ankles.

"We're inside, you've just taken your shoes off, what happened? Why did his face change, and why did he... all of it." MJ struggled to find the words.

"You'll have to deal with the Cordelia version instead of the practiced speech. The world stated out a nasty place, and then people showed up and things didn't get too much better. There's all sorts of monsters and demons out there - real ones, not sick and twisted nuts. Things that eat people. You hadn't heard people saying the monsters are real because people don't want to believe, and talking about them will get you locked up, and that would probably be even more miserable than this place. We were attacked by a vampire, and the perfume... I've been diluting it with holy water. Holy water and crosses do painful things to vampires, garlic just makes them wrinkle up their noses. They don't reflect, and they can't come in unless you invite them." Cordelia tried to remember if that was everything.

MJ spoke after a few moments of silence, her eyes troubled. "Was he... he was going to kill us, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. Maybe rape us first. Vampires aren't nice guys, they're evil nasty monsters who don't reform, they don't exist for tormented centuries like in those books, and they aren't eternal advisors." Cordelia shook her head, deciding to go with the simplest version.

"So, why isn't this the horrible shock to you that it was for me?" MJ sighed.

"I got this horrible shock a few years back. It's part of the reason why I left California." Cordelia rubbed her temples, and grumbled, "I was hoping for things to be safer, simpler. This wasn't what I expected."

"I'm starting to think that life is never quite the way we expect." MJ replied.

Cordelia smiled at MJ. "At least we're not in this mess alone."

"No, we're not. I guess that helps a bit." MJ agreed.