Chapter 3: A Guardian Angel

"Oh god, Oh god. Help!!!!" Xander shouted from beneath the huge demon.

A drop of the venomous liquid they spat also coated their slimy green skin and a drop began to lower itself so that it was just a few inches from his face. It was so hot. It was excruciating just to be near these monsters. He closed his eyes, about to accept his fate as a snake-demon monster sandwich. Suddenly, Xander had a thought.

'I've watched Buffy a billion times and I can't fight a demon? What is wrong with me?' he asked himself

He scrunched his legs up to his chest and positioned them under the demon's stomach. He took a deep breath and hit the demon hard, sending him flying through the air. He stood up and brushed himself off. The other demon had its eyes wide and his jaw dropped in shock. He turned and ran the other direction.

Xander looked at the demon he'd sent flying. It was lying motionless. He had broken its neck! For once he'd done something for himself. He felt empowered and slowly bent down and picked up his jacket that he had dropped in his blind panic. He turned and got back in Cordelia's car.

"Wow, I'm like, Super Xander! ALL HAIL ME!" he yelled

He started the car and drove down the ally, speeding past the dead demon. He smiled and honked the horn a few times before setting his gaze on a motel. He pulled into the lot and turned the engine off.

Inside the building sat a small man at a rather large desk. The man was typing something on his laptop while chatting with somebody on the phone.

"Yeah, the address is: www.trekkies_unite.com, okay? Good." He said happily

Xander walked up to the desk and rang the little bell on the counter, getting the man's attention. He flicked his gaze back and forth from Xander to the computer screen a few times before Xander was forced to ring the small bell yet again. The man grew red in the face and snatched the bell of the desktop and placed it in a drawer.

"Hey, Tony I have to go. There is a man here who is being extremely rude!" he finished loudly so that Xander heard him. The small man hung up the phone and glanced, angrily, at Xander who smiled in return

"Hello! Can I have a room?" he asked cheerfully

"No, you may NOT have a room, you schmuck! Who do you think you are, marching in here while I am on the phone and demanding a room, how dare you!"

Xander looked at the man's nametag, which read Ted, and again began to speak: "Alright.Ted, well, see I need a room and I am willing to pay. So I can't see a downside to this plan."

"Hmmm, that's funny. 'Cause I do. See, I am the owner of this motel and I don't have to give you a room unless I see it fit. So, buh bye!" he said condescendingly

"I have money though! See?" he asked pulling a small wad of cash from his pocket

"Wow." Ted said sarcastically "That's a lot of money. Did your parents give it to you?"

Xander smiled a little "Well, a lot of it is christm-" then he realized what he was saying and cleared his throat "I mean, no! I made this money on my own.yeah. All by my lonesome self."

"Alrighty then." he said with a broad smile, which showed sharp sabers. Suddenly, his eyes began to glow red and his fingernails grew longer and glistened like ten sharp blades. "Now, leave!!!" he shouted

"No!" Xander stated firmly, taking a more assertive stance "I want a room."

The creature growled and smiled, "And I said to get lost!" it lunged at the curly haired boy

But a hand, not Xander's, whipped through the air and grabbed the monster by the scruff of it's neck. Xander put up his fists and closed his eyes, hoping that if a punch was thrown it would not be him who was hit.

"Good dogs don't bite!" the mystery man said tauntingly, Xander immediately recognized the voice as that of Angel, Buffy's beau

Xander opened his eyes and looked up at Angel(considering he was quite a bit taller then he was), who had the demon a good foot or two off the ground, Angel held him with one hand. The demon growled and snapped its teeth at Angel.

"That'll teach you!" Xander said mockingly, pointing his finger in the demons face "Stupid Trekkie!" he spat

"Oh god, a Trekkie?!" Angel asked looking at the demon with disgust "God, you are too pitiful."

"Why is it that more Trekkies aren't demons, it'd make so much more sense!"

"Most Trekkies ARE demons, either that or overweight middle-aged men with no life."

"Well, duh! Just look at my dad and Uncle Ronny. Perfect examples there." Xander said casually

Angel glanced at the squirming demon and dropped him. His head slammed against the cold linoleum floor. He placed his foot over the side of the monster's head and pushed down, causing him to grunt in pain. "Now," he said to the demon, "I am going to take my foot off your head and then, you are going to go and watch a nice episode of Star Trek. Maybe talk to some other weirdoes like you. God, I would stake myself if I was a psycho fan like that! What about those actors?! My god."

"I know. I would hate to be them, plus it is so creepy. Why would anyone be obsessed like that? Don't they have lives?" Xander asked

The demon let out a low frustrated growl that sent a wave of instant heat through the room.

Xander wiped at his brow, "Damn, is it just me or does it suddenly feel like we're in a Easy-Bake Oven?"

"Yeah. It's a Tethilion Demon, from the Rylon dimension. They knock out their opponents by dehydrating them with small heat waves. All that is left, usually, is a dried out corpse."

Xander cringed, "Ewww! Like a big, icky raisin."

"Uh.yeah. Either way, Xander I want you to get in my car and I'll take care of this guy." Angel turned to walk away with the squirming demon still clutched in his hand.

"How 'bout no! I came here to get away from you guys. Buffy doesn't need me, or my help. She made that very clear last Wednesday!" he yelled angrily

"Last Wednesday? What happened last Wedn-oh! The Hellmouth opened." Angel could almost read Xander like a book at that point. "And she didn't want you to help, did she?"

Xander scoffed, "What do you think, Mister Big Shot?! No one ever needs 'little Xander's' help. No, no! All Xander is good for is getting doughnuts!"

"She just doesn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah?" he asked angrily. "Then why did she let Willow help? Or Giles? Or you?! Does she want YOU to get hurt?"

Angel paused a minute to try and contemplate a non-hurtful answer to his question.

Xander rolled his eyes, "See? What did I tell you? She just doesn't care about me. Poor Xander, he can't do magick, and doesn't have super powers and isn't a bookworm so we'll just let him be our delivery boy. Am I getting close here, chief?"

"Not even close!" Angel tightened his grip a little on the demon's neck and then threw him against the opposite wall; it crumpled into a heap on the floor. "I'll have you know, Buffy-this person who, apparently hates you- is the same person who snuck to my apartment in the middle of the night and told me to come here and find you, even though it was against Giles' orders. So, tough guy, still think she's the one that hates you?"

"Okay, first of all, my god! What the hell did you just do to that thing, and second, she really said that? She really told you to come find me?"

Angel sighed, "Yes, Xander, she did. She loves you as much as Willow does and both of them are worried about you."

"Well.what about Cordelia?" Xander inquired

"Oh, she just wants her car back."

"Okay, than. I am pretty sure that is do-able. But I don't want to go back. I made a huge deal about leaving." He said with downcast eyes

"Don't worry, you all the time in the world. Trust me, I know about time. I have had quite a lot of experience in time, you know." Angel said humorously

"I'll bet. Hey you go back to Sunnydale. I need a little more time here. But will you give Buffy a message for me? I wrote her a letter, I know it's cheesy but I want her, Will and Cordy ONLY to see it, okay? I want you to put it in your pocket and not take it out until you see her. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal."