it's like a buddy movie (only without the buddy part)
Chapter Three: That Thinking Thing
Xander hung up the pay phone. He'd pulled into the gas station a few blocks down from the graveyard to get the gang-gathering ball rolling. One of these days, he thought, he should really get a cell phone. It'd make things way easier.
He walked back to the car to let Spike know what was up. "Okay, talked to An. She's calling Willow to wake the troops up over there, and then calling Giles to pick her up. We're meeting at Bu-- at the Summers house." Xander stopped. "What d'you think you're doing?"
"Waiting for a twit. What does it look like?"
"No, you're smoking in my car. I told you before, you already stink it up enough without adding more of a smell. Put it out"
"I. Don't. Smell. You, however, should discover the wonderful world of deodorant. That'd make everyone’s existence slightly easier to bear."
"Like I believe you. And yeah, you do stink. Smoke and dirt and dead-like stink."
Spike stared at Xander for a few seconds, then squished his lit cigarette into the dashboard. "Better, then?"
Xander clenched his fists. The guy was more irritating than usual tonight, something he didn't think was possible. "You're forgetting who can hurt who here, bleach brain."
"Oh, right, that'll be a great story to tell your mates. 'Gee, so sorry, I took out the only decent fighter we've got because he got my toy car a little dirty.' And don't think for a second that you could get close to doing any damage on the likes of me."
Okay, this so wasn't worth it. Not with stuff going down right now. Xander let it slide - at least until they dealt with Antler Guy. "Fine. Whatever. Let's just get the gang." Xander got into the driver's seat and started the engine. "Any clue what kind of hocus-pocus a demon like that would be doing?"
"How should I know? I'm not the expert on magicks. That's what you lot do. Well, not you, the ones with half a brain."
"Oh, yeah, right, you're more of a 'let's threaten people until they do spells for you' kind of dead guy."
"You are not STILL going on about that, are you? God, man, get a grip."
"Uh, hello? You knocked me out and then kidnapped me and my best friend. Not the kind of thing I normally just let go of."
Spike shook his head and grumbled. "Years ago, you idiot. And it's not as if I didn't have damn good reason"
"Good reason? Uh, no, the way I remember it, it was just 'cause Drusilla dumped your ass."
A couple seconds passed. "We are not going to talk about that, lackbrain." Spike's voice was flat. And quiet.
Xander blinked. Okaaaay, this was striking more of a nerve than usual. So now, the question... push the issue - highly entertaining - or let it lie to make sure that Spike, who, hate to say it, was the main fight guy right now, stuck around for whatever was going to be up tonight. He decided on Door #2. Man, what's up with that? Time was, he'd have gone for the throat with Evil Dead, word-wise. Damn this practicality.
The rest of the drive was silent. But as Xander was turning on to Revello Drive, something went kaboom in his head. His name. [[Xander?]]
"YEEAUGH!" He just about jumped out of his seat. That? He wasn't expecting.
Spike snapped his head to look at him as he yelped. "What the hell are you screaming at?"
[[Xander, it's just me. Willow. Remember that telepathy project that I've been working on with Giles and Tara? I decided to test it out for distance. Can you hear me okay?]]
"Louder and clearer than last time, Wil. But a little warning would've been nice."
Spike looked at him like he'd snapped. "Who the blazes are you talking to, Harris?"
"Willow. She's been working on talking with her thoughts. It's a new magic thing she's been figuring out." Xander rubbed his head. There'd better not be any side effects this time. Spike was enough of a headache for one night already.
Hearing his explanation, Spike shook his head. "Red, eh? Did that to me once, the telepathy whatsit. She's rolling in mojo these days, isn't she?"
"Yeah, I guess. With some things. But she can do a lot of good with it."
[[Xander? You still there?]]
"I'm here. Just explaining to Spike what's up with me talking to thin air."
[[Try thinking back to me instead of talking. Just think strongly. It would be a lot easier, and you wouldn't look like a loony person.]]
"Wil, you know I'm not comfortable with the thinking thing."
Spike chuckled. "There's a shocker."
Xander glared a Spike and kept talking. "Look, we're almost there. You and I can talk when we get inside."
He thought he could feel a little bit of sulk in her reply. Weird. [[Okay. We can talk in a few minutes.]]
The Willowness in his brain faded out as he pulled up in front of the house behind Giles's car.
They walked through the front door to find the gang already sitting around the coffee table in the living room, passing around a bag of microwave popcorn. Xander grinned and waved at everybody. This was more the kind of back-up he liked - actual people. "Ladies and gentlemen - er, gentleman - welcome to the show! I'm sure you're wondering why I've asked you all here tonight..."
Giles cleared his throat. Looked like the "call to duty" woke him up and he seemed to be in a less than good mood. "Xander, Anya mentioned that you had told her that we are dealing with a Chaos demon who was in the process of some sort of ceremony?"
Shrugging, Xander gave up on the cheery intro and plopped down on the nearest chair. "Yeah, that's the guy. Big. Kinda a cross between Herman Munster, Bambi's dad, and Slimer the ghost."
Dawn giggled. "None of those are scary. That sounds almost cute. Can we hug it to death?"
"He's describing it all wrong, niblet." Spike was still leaning against the archway leading into the living room. "A Chaos demon is big, smart, and one of those is never up to what you lot would call good. Hell, they're never up to anything I like either."
Giles nodded. "That is true. From what little I have read about them, they are highly intelligent and social demons, and they often associate with other demons and, on occasion, vampires. Quite unusual, really.
Xander looked up at Spike. "Vampires, huh? This guy an old buddy of yours?
"Not bloody likely that I'd be caught with that wanker." he shot back.
Shooting glances at them both, Giles continued. "Whatever this particular demon's past history may be, as a rule they do support the cause of chaos. A single Chaos demon will often spend a great deal of time formulating plans of attack to further their aims, and that normally leads to quite catastrophic events when they set a plan in motion. We not only need to stop this demon, but ascertain what his plan is and how far it has progressed."
Willow raised her hand. "What should we do? If there are magicks involved, I can help with that." Xander smiled. School habits died hard with the Willow.
"Yes, thank you, that would be quite helpful. Giles stood up. "Tara, Dawn, you should stay here in case we have additional needs. The rest of us should be able to handle this situation and discover the necessary information."
Dawn rolled her eyes at Tara. "Looks like we're in for another night of 'Let's Pretend We're Doing Something Useful.'"
"But, on the plus side, we get ice cream." Tara grinned at Dawn.
"Good point." Dawn grinned back.
Xander sighed to himself. Ice cream sounded really good right about now. Instead, he said, "So, are we outta here? Time to go. The guy was already all chanty when we left."
Spike agreed. "It's past time we dealt with this. Get your weapons and supplies and whatnot."
As the gang filed out into the night towards the cars, Xander again thought of the ice cream. Which would probably be followed by videos of cartoons while they waited for everybody else to get back from the night of slayage. But, hey, at least he didn't have to deal with Spike solo tonight anymore. That had to count for something.