The lift is always perpendicular to the local relative wind. The trailing vortex sheet's downwash changes... actually inclines the relative wind and an aft angle to the freestream. The angle at which the vorticity does this is the induced angle of attack. The component of lift that is parallel to the free stream is induced drag.

The total lift is not actually perpendicular to the chord line. The local angle of attack is the difference between the chordline and the local relative wind. The angle from the freestream to the local relative wind is the induced angle of attack. The local angle of attack plus the induced angle of attack equals the total angle of attack.

In my first post in this thread, I was trying to a little too simple - and left out some key differences. Local Relative wind is not quite the same as what we think of as 'relative wind' (which is the 'freestream' in this case). Hopefully this post is a little more specific.