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When it was all over, when Ivory had been dragged away kicking and screaming and cursing Chase for what he had done to her, he had been inwardly reviling what he expected would come next. He had been anticipating that Cinnamon would sweep him away to her room, to share an intimate evening after weeks of being apart. But, such was not the case; in fact, Cinnamon outright stated that she had more pressing matters to tend to, leaving Chase to roam about the caverns on his own.
Chase's first moment of indecision came when he tried to figure out where to go first. Should he try to sneak into Ivory's cell right away to beg her forgiveness? Much as he wanted to, he was halted by the thought that maybe Cinnamon was testing him, that maybe she had one of her fledglings watching him even now to see what he did. If that were true, he'd best tread carefully at this juncture.
Taking a deep breath and clearing his mind, Chase closed his eyes, reaching out with his senses to get a better fix on his surroundings. And, sure enough, his bout of paranoia proved correct; he could clearly perceive that there was a vampire watching him.
It didn't take Chase long to seize control of the young vamp's mind, planting a suggestion to feed that would send it on its way without question. Once that was accomplished and once Chase gave it some thought, he headed not for Ivory's cell, but Cordelia's quarters, knowing he'd need help more than anything.
It took Chase some snooping around before he found which room was Cordelia's, but once that was accomplished, he entered calmly, prepared to plead for her help. What he wasn't expecting from her was a sneak attack, punctuated by a sweeping kick that knocked his legs out from under him.
Cordelia snarled as she kneeled over Chase in full vamped out mode, wrapping both hands tightly around his throat and looking very much like she wanted to kill him. Chase only suffered a moment of disorientation before he thought to seek out her mind with his, determined to use his own means to put a stop to this.
Cordelia growled loudly the moment she felt the intrusion. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have sensed it, but she had firsthand knowledge of what he could do. Relaxing her grip slightly but still fighting him all the way, Cordelia hissed, "Get out of my mind, Chase!"
He refused to do so, staring up at her in an unnerving silence until Cordelia at last pushed herself away from him with a snarl. Glaring at him from a few feet away, she said, "You have a lot of nerve! We trusted you-- Ivory trusted you, and you betrayed her!"
Chase shook his head. "No, I didn't!" he denied emphatically, abruptly lowering his eyes. "At least..." He paused for a moment, then swore, "Damn it! Cordelia... This wasn't supposed to happen! Cinnamon shouldn't have known I was here in Arizona."
Cordelia stared at him, every ounce of her seething with rage. "But she WAS expecting you... Why, Chase? Why did you lie to us? What did Cinnamon promise you that was more important than Ivory's life?!"
"My freedom, alright!" Chase blurted out, looking equally angry himself. "I..." He remained silent for a bit, then sighed, sitting up straight. "The night I escaped the caverns, I hid at a deserted cabin in the desert. But not very well, I'm afraid... Leeloo and Cinnamon found me, the former inviting the latter in to get at me. They might have killed me, but Cinnamon had a more interesting idea. They had just learned from Ethan, who had returned from a trip to England, that a Slayer would soon surface in Sunnydale, California... They made me promise that I would bring the girl to them in exchange that I would get to walk free. The alternative was that Cinn would never stop hunting for me until I was dead... If I had known then that the Slayer was Ivory, the same person whom I had promised to Buffy that I would protect..." Chase shook his head. "I didn't tell her because I thought it didn't matter. You know, that we'd get Buffy out without a hitch and that I could deal with the other issue myself alone afterwards. I didn't count on..."
"On what?" Cordelia demanded when he faltered. "That Ivory and Angel would get captured?!"
Chase shook his head again. "No," he said. "That I'd fall so in love with Ivory." He paused, then, off of Cordelia's surprised look, he added, "I'm not gonna let her die, Cordy. I can't. That's why we need a plan. It's just the two of us who can stop this. Leeloo's not... Well, I wouldn't hand it to her to side with us."
"Leeloo?! But why?" Cordelia questioned. "She's one of them."
"No, she's one of us," Chase stated firmly. "It's only her upbringing... It's turned her into a very bitter young woman, but the one thing she never lost was some degree of loyalty to her family... Cordelia, she's Buffy and Angel's daughter, and Ivory's younger sister."
Cordelia's eyes widened as her anger deflated. In total shock, she leaned back, waiting a moment before she found the ability to form words. "But that's not possible," she declared, quickly doing the math in her head. "If what you're saying is true, then... Leeloo would have been conceived just before Buffy was kidnapped. But..." Cordelia looked up at him. "Buffy was a vampire by then, and vampires, particularly female, are supposed to be infertile. There's no way..."
"There was a way," Chase said firmly. "Because it did happen! Not even Buffy has an explanation for it. I doubt anyone does." He leaned closer, dropping his hold on Cordelia's mind. "Leeloo exists as living proof of what her parents meant to each other. Angel doesn't know of who she is yet, but once he does... I imagine she'll bring as much joy to his life as she has to Buffy's."
Cordelia bit her lip at this notion, running one hand through her long brown hair. After a lengthy moment, she said, "Then it's up to us to make sure Angel lives long enough to value it, not to mention Buffy, Ivory, and... and Leeloo. So, Chase, what's your plan? How are we going to save the four of them?"
Chase paused, giving this some thought, then smiled sadly. "If we want to get them all out at once and if we want Leeloo to come willingly, then it seems we have to wait for this ritual to take place after all." Off of Cordelia's agitated look, he added quickly, "Trust me. Many of the local residents are likely to be there to witness it. I take control of enough minds, I believe I can cause enough of a distraction to buy us some time."
"But what if you're wrong?" Cordelia protested. "What if you can't do it?!"
Chase sighed. "Then we come up with a Plan B," he replied, leading to a very lengthy discussion on alternatives...
The moment he left Cordelia's quarters, Chase was quick to head for first one "dining room", then another, until he'd located the vamp that Cinnamon had assigned to watch him and returned it to its earlier task without question. With that accomplished, he began to wander the corridors, until he at last came across Cinnamon outside her own room. "So there you are," Chase said, seizing her by one elbow and ushering her inside.
"We need to talk," Chase told her, shutting the curtain behind them. "I don't know what gave you the idea to have me followed the past few hours, but I don't like it. I don't need a watchdog, Cinnamon!"
Cinnamon adopted a pouty look, taking a step closer to him. "Oh, Chase," she said in a sickly sweet tone, running her hands over his chest. "Of course you don't. After all, it's perfectly understandable that you lied to me, that you didn't come to tell me the Slayer and her father were so close by. Why shouldn't I trust you?"
"You promised me my freedom if I gave you the Slayer," Chase argued, refusing to play into her hands. "So tell me why I still feel like a prisoner? It was my understanding that I could be walk out of here at any time unhindered."
Cinnamon's eyes widened in a split-second of surprise; she was not used to having her manipulative talents tossed aside so easily. "You're right," she answered after a long moment. "However, I have one condition to that plan. I want you here to witness the ritual, to see the end result of your brilliant handiwork."
Chase hesitated, wondering momentarily why she was so eager to have him there. *Could she possibly know of my feelings for Ivory?* So it was that, being ever so subtle, careful that she didn't know what he was doing, Chase slowly edged in on Cinnamon's mind. It took time and some extra effort to bend her to his will, but when that happened, he resorted to interrogating her.
"How much do you know about me and Ivory?" Chase asked, concentrating to keep his control intact.
Cinnamon stared straight into his piercing black eyes, unable to tear her gaze from his. "I caught the two of you at the cabin, making love," she answered calmly. "It hurts, the sting of betrayal, doesn't it? I would have done anything for you, Chase. I was that fond of you."
"But not fond enough," Chase returned. "What hurts you more, Cinnamon? The fact that I deserted you entirely or the fact that I fell in love with the Slayer?"
"What really hurts me is the notion that love can be lost, regardless of how much you care for that person. It's always lost, driven into dust or oblivion." Cinnamon paused momentarily, then added, "You will only lose her as a result of loving her, Chase. It's the way of the world."
He gave this some thought, catching a hidden meaning in her words. "Who did you lose, Cinnamon? Who was it that set your heart afire before he was lost?"
Cinnamon's answer shocked him, for it was the last thing Chase expected to hear. "Well, Falmorean, of course... I was a young harem girl when we first met, and it didn't take me long to fall for him. We had plans to marry when a vampire passing through Egypt turned me. I can still remember the way Falmorean looked when he came to my burial site, all grief stricken. My eyes may have been closed in that mortal death as I lay in my coffin, but I could still see him... When I arose as a vampire, he had already left. It took years before I managed to track him down, and even then, it was too late."
"Because he had already been banished to the demon dimension," Chase whispered, eyes wide as the missing piece of the puzzle fell into place. He, Ivory, and Angel had been unsure as to why Ethan wanted such a dangerous, uncontrollable demon raised, when all along they should have been looking at Cinnamon. All of this-- Ethan's becoming a vampire, Buffy's kidnapping and years of torment, Ivory's capture-- could be laid at the door of an undead Egyptian woman who wanted simply to have the love of her life back.
The idea of it made Chase sick, but there was nothing he could do about it as of yet. Instead, he thought to ask one last question before he released his hold. "When will the ritual take place?"
"By tomorrow afternoon at the earliest," Cinnamon answered earnestly. "Ethan's already setting up for it as we speak. Poor fool, he doesn't know that doing by so, he will be one of the first in line to die. I, on the other hand, know to keep my distance and to shut my eyes against Falmorean's death stare..."
Chase sighed, rubbing at the sides of his head. "Okay," he said at last, prepared to drop his control over her. "Now listen to me, Cinnamon. When I let you go, you'll remember nothing of this conversation. The last few minutes will not have happened. In fact, when you return to yourself, you will immediately claim to be tired and send me on my way with no one to watch me and report back to you. Do you understand?"
Cinnamon nodded once, and Chase instantly let go of her mind. She stumbled momentarily, then put one hand to the cavern wall to steady herself. "Whoa," Cinnamon said aloud, giving no indication that she remembered all the secrets she'd just spilled. "I must be more sleepy than I thought!" she exclaimed, letting Chase know that his try at hypnosis had worked.
"I will be here for the ritual," Chase said in answer to her earlier statement. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Cinnamon smiled. "That's good," she replied. "Now, if you don't mind, Chase, I think I'd prefer to be alone, to get some rest. Perhaps you'd like to wander the caves alone for a few hours. You're right about what you said previously. It was wrong of me to have you followed."
"Glad you see it my way," Chase replied, stepping forward to give her a quick hug for effect. "Good night, Cinnamon. I'll see you soon." With those words, he stepped from her chambers swiftly, his next destination already clear in mind...
When he reached the cell that Ivory had been stationed in, Chase was quick to note that the Slayer was pacing the room in a state of hopelessness, while her father lay unconscious on the floor, a few empty blood packets (most likely drugged) surrounding him. Softly, Chase called out her name, alerting her.
Ivory flew at him a second later with an angry cry, attempting to grab at him through the bars. However, Chase dodged away, avoiding her grasp. "Congratulations," he said dryly. "You're the second person who's tried to kill me since this went down."
"Oh, that's too easy; it would hardly make the hurt go away!" Ivory spat out bitterly. "Tell me, Chase. What would be a fitting punishment for someone who lied to, used, and sold you out?!"
"I'm already being punished," Chase answered. "Just knowing how much you must detest me right now..."
"Shut up!" Ivory yelled. "You have no idea how I feel right now, Chase! You took advantage of everything that mattered! I placed my trust, my heart, my very life in your hands! And you threw it all away, you bastard!" She paused, her pretty face twisting up in a scowl. "You give me one good reason why I should believe in you again!"
"Because I can get you out," Chase pleaded with every ounce of sincerity that he had, the desperation in his tone getting her attention. "Because I care too much to let you die here!" He paused, building his courage. "Because I love you, Ivory."
She remained silent for a long while, then shook her head in anger. "Too little, too late, Chase... And I don't mean about getting my family and I out. Excuse me if I don't love you back at this point!" Ivory paused again, then leaned forward, resting her forearms on the bars to hold herself up. "I suggest you don't stick around post-rescue. Believe me when I say I will kill you if I catch you around afterwards," she told him bitterly.
Chase's heart constricted at her words, for they fully expressed the finality of the situation. Before, he had thought that he and Ivory would find a way to work it out despite their resolve to part ways. But now, there were too many other variables added to it. With a deep sigh, he realized that he might as well face the fact that he had lost her trust, totally and completely, and it was very likely he wouldn't get it back...