it's like a buddy movie (only without the buddy part)
Chapter Thirteen: Lamer Than Before
As the car began to get some decent speed going, the engine’s roar started getting louder - too loud - and sounding overly painful. "Shift gears, you git!" Spike yelled.
Oops. "Right." Foot off the gas, on the clutch and... shift. There we go. The engine went back to normal-sounding roaring. "Got it." Xander looked up to see a total lack of demon car through the windshield. "Hey, where’d he go?"
"Turned left two blocks ahead. Pay attention. And get a move on!"
"Hey, this thing’s going as fast as it goes, Dead Boy. If you had to steal a car, you could’ve at least stolen a Porsche or something."
"Like you could ever handle a real car. You’d be puttering along like the big poof you are. There! Turn!"
Xander twisted the wheel, sending the car zooming down a side street. Good thing it was so early, and that wasn't a lot of traffic out yet. That would be bad, because he could barely see through all the black paint on the windshield. Oh, yeah, this was fun. "I don’t see him. Wait! There!" The blue car was making another turn, down what looked like an alley. Xander did that whole shift-process-thing again and picked up some speed. He was so gonna get this guy. He raced down the street and turned down the alley... and saw nothing. Zip.
"What the hell?" Spike saw no sign of the ugly car either. Xander drove slowly down the alley, looking for any sign that the very ugly demon car had parked or turned or pulled in somewhere.
No dice. The demon’s blue Olds was nowhere in sight.
"Damn it!" Xander slammed the steering wheel with his fist. So close. He pulled over to the side of the alley.
"Just bad luck is all." Spike shook his head, looking frustrated. "’Course, now I’m fresh out of ideas to grab this bastard and stop whatever mojo he’s spreadin’ around this town."
"We’re batting a thousand, here. And we still have no clue what he’s doing."
"That we don’t, ‘cept being fairly sure that it’s bad."
"Random badness. Part of the fun of the town." Xander could almost see the light bulb appear over his head. "Wait! Willow!" Why didn’t he think of this before? "She could help! This is a magic thing we’re talking about, except for the demon and his buddies wanting to do the arm-tearing. Maybe she can crack the magic code?" Xander tried to re-start the engine a few times before it roared to life.
Spike blinked. "Not sure about this plan. D’you think Red’ll go for it? ‘Cause we know she’s affected by the spell, same as the rest. Lass’ll think we’re not quite sane."
"Okay, it’s possible that it won’t work and they’ll call the loony police, but I’ve gotta try. Besides, if I can convince anybody on the planet about what’s going on, it’ll be her." Xander made a U-turn in the street and started to head over towards the Summers house.
"Hopin’ your powers of persuasion are up to snuff, Harris. I’m about ready to bash this blokes head in."
"I’m just ready to get this whole thing over with. And the sooner the better. So if Wil can help us find DeerGuy, then maybe I can get some rest." Xander slapped himself on the forehead. "Damn. Work. I’m supposed to be there in a little while. That’s not happening, huh?" Xander looked at Spike. "Unless you really think you got this covered? I mean, once Wil finds the guy, you’re now fully stocked with weapons. It’s all you if you want."
Spike grimaced. "Like nothin’ better but... there’s this problem."
"That being?"
"My ankle," Spike admitted.
"That bad? Thought it was no big."
"Well, I lied. By m’self, with my ankle all cracked, I don’t think I could take him. Give him a right bad time of it, but there’s a chance – slight one, mind you – that I’d lose. I hate losing."
Xander grinned. "Really? So, you know I’m gonna make you say it."
"Say wh--- oh, hell no. Not saying that."
"Okay, fine. I’ll just get out of the car, here, let you crawl in your sleeping bag to the nearest shade." Xander pulled over the curb and looked at Spike, grinning. Time for him to pay for his seriously annoying comments at the Magic Box.
"You wouldn’t dare, monkey boy."
"Watch me." Xander started to open the driver’s side door, waiting for the vampire to cave.
Spike glared at him. And Xander was fully amused. "Fine." Spike bit off the next few words "I. Need. You. To stay to help. ‘Cause of my being all gimpy. Happy?"
Ha! "Very. Damn, if only I had an audience for that."
"You’re a moron, Harris."
"And you’re a lamer vampire than you were before." Xander shut the door and re-started the engine. He could only hope that Willow and Tara were still there and would listen to crazy talk. And, if it went better that he honestly thought it would, maybe they’d point them in the direction of the Chaos demon so they could take him out.
As they continued to drive in non-talking mode – fine with him – Xander began to think about how things stood. If Spike was hurt enough that he was actually choosing to keep him around, it had to be pretty bad. Looked like the "lame" joke had way too much truth to it right now. Might as well ask. "Not that I actually care, but how bad is your ankle? Seriously, here. How out-of-commission are you?"
Spike paused before answering. "Not plannin’ on running any marathons anytime soon." Spike grimaced. "Truth be told, it’s be a day or three before it’s back to normal. Worse than I thought when it happened. At the moment, it’s right painful." Spike glanced at Xander. "And it won’t be at full strength for a fight. That could be a problem."
"Guess we’ll deal." Xander pulled up and stopped – well, honestly, stalled – in front of the house. "Grab the sleeping bag. And let’s just hope Willow’ll listen to us."