STORY SIX: BROTHERLY LOVE, THE CITY OF
"This is where you want to take in a late dinner?" Xander asked as they pulled up to a shotty looking shack with a line of Harleys up front. He got off their bike and looked over at the building. Loud voices came from inside along with some random music. "Is this sanitary?"
"Probably not. Who cares? I'll protect you," Faith whispered with a grin. "Besides, they have the best cheese steaks here."
"Just how many places have you been to?" he asked, sticking close to her. "Seems like you've eaten just about everywhere."
"Well, you know. Slaying, H&H," Faith said as they slipped through the door.
They entered into the place and all the large/mid-sized biker boys all turned towards them, some of them stopping in mid-conversation.
Xander just grinned. "Hey, fellas. Just here for the cheese steaks. Nothing to see here."
"Except for that hot chick at your side!" someone called.
Faith rolled her eyes. Good food, bad eaters. She hoped this didn't get stupid.
"Ha ha, fellas!" Xander said to them. "There's no hot chick here... oops, I mean, you know what I mean," he whispered to her as he directed them over to a small table in the corner of the place.
"You're lucky I do." Faith shook her head, bemused by Xander and annoyed by the rowdies. She hoped the rest of their stay in Philly improved from here.
They sat down and Xander kept his eye away from everyone else. "Did you check out that moon when we pulled up here?" he asked. "Pretty, wasn't it?"
"Uh... yeah. I guess." Faith shrugged, studying the menu on the opposite wall. "Good for running around in the dark, at least."
"Not much into the astronomy part of things, are you?" He leaned back in his chair. "But very much into the food part. Hm, so cheese steak. Never had one. Let's see, what sounds like the most edible."
A large frame got in the way of Xander's line of vision. "How much for your girl?" a gruff voice asked, placing a hand on Faith's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
Xander looked up at the biker. "Um, and you see a 'for sale' sign where?" He watched the guy's hand slowly running over her back. "Hey," he said, actually standing up, pointing at the guy. "You might wanna think twice about that, buddy."
"Oh, yeah? You gonna make me think twice?" the burly man asked, sneering at Xander.
"No." Faith grabbed the man's arm and spun him around, twisting his arm up behind his back. "I am," she whispered into his ear. "I didn't come here to play grabass with some greasy asshat. Now go away."
Xander grinned. "That's right," he said as the man stumbled away, slightly stunned. "Gotta protect my woman somehow." He grinned at Faith, gesturing to the seat. "Shall we?"
The man rubbed his arm, glaring at the two brunettes. "Yeah, we shall," he muttered, punching Xander in the face knocking him onto his back. "How do you like that, one-eyed asshole?"
Xander winced, covering his cheek. "Ouch, man. That hurt."
Faith sighed. "Man, why'd you have to go and do that?" she asked, before punching the punk in the face. Unlike Xander, he didn't have a comeback, just laid there in a puddle of drool and spilled beer. "Idiot." She looked around the bar as she helped Xander back up. "This is going to get stupid, isn't it?"
Xander cringed, moving his jaw around. "I REALLY wish it wouldn't," he murmured then looked up and saw that the guy's buddies were surrounding them. "Hey, look, we'll leave!" he said, putting up his hands stepping slightly in front of Faith. "It'll be for YOUR own good, but we'll do it anyway. What do you say?" As he talked, he grabbed Faith's wrist and was inching their way towards the back door.
"But - " Faith sighed. She really liked the cheesesteaks here.
"Leaving so soon? We ain't done!" one of the fallen thug's friends, an even taller and even uglier man, said, stepping into their path.
Xander raised his brows in worry. They really weren't going to get out of there without SOME sort of violence. He sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Man..." Then he suddenly reared his fist back and smashed it hard into the one in the way. "Go!" he called to Faith trying to push her through the door.
"Jesus, Xander!" Faith exclaimed. It was touching, but she WAS the Slayer...
As he did, however, they all attacked, dragging Xander down and onto the floor.
"Dammit!" Faith reached down into the pile and began plucking the goons off of Xander, one at a time. Finally, she threw the last one off and uncovered a rather bloodied and bruised Xander.
"Shit - come on." She helped him up. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Xander ran the back of his hand against his bloody nose. "Now THAT hurt," he murmured. He pressed his hand against his chest as someone had punched him right on there as well. He glanced back at them as they exited through the back.
The first guy to start it all just stood there, grinning. But none of them moved. They just stared.
Faith gave them one last, slightly wary, look, then hurried out before they followed.
When they reached their own motorcycle, Xander was breathing hard. He had to lean on the bike to keep balanced. "Tell me there's another place to get good cheese steaks." He winced. "And make sure they have band aids and maybe an ice pack?"
"I lost my appetite," Faith replied. "Let's just get a room and order in," she said, looking him over. "You all right?"
"Yeah. I mean, I look like meat tenderized, but..." He put his hand to his head as a wave of dizziness hit him.
"But?"
"I'm fine." He smiled at her.
Faith shrugged. He looked like reheated shit, but there didn't seem to be any serious injuries, either.
"I think I like that 'get a room and ordering in' idea. Come on, Xena. Where's the nearest room to get?" He gestured to the bike.
Faith shrugged again as she hopped on the bike. "Must be a Motel 6 around here somewhere..."
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, Faith was turning the key in the lock of their new room. Reflexively, she checked out the room, then relaxed. "Coast's clear," she told Xander with a smirk.
"What were you expecting?" he asked, heading straight for the rickety bed and laying on it.
"Who knows?" Faith replied. "Vampires, witches, ghosts... what have we missed so far? Zombies?"
"You're really gonna take my job and jinx the hell out of us, aren't you?" he asked, looking over at her across the room. Maybe he wasn't feeling all that well. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired. The fight had taken more out of him than he thought, especially considering he only managed all of one punch through the entire fiasco. "I'm.. not really hungry."
"Are you sure? You should eat something. Get your strength back..." Faith laughed. "Look at me. Acting like your mommy."
"My mom never looked that hot." He cringed a little. "Ooo, that was NOT a good sentence to come out of anyone's mouth. But yeah, I'm sure. Hey, why don't you go ahead and go out? Find those cheese steaks you've been craving. I don't wanna keep you here just 'cause I'm a poor, poor soul and 'cause I'll miss you a whole heck of a lot. And hey, while you're out, you can get a bunch of bandages, too for your poor traveling buddy and sometimes boyfriend?"
"You're pretty good at that guilt-trip thing, you know," Faith laughed. "I'll just go down the block, okay? Stick around..." She winked as she headed out the door.
Xander nodded. "Not planning on going anywhere," he said, "Thanks, babe!" he called as she left.
Faith hurried out of the hotel and down the street to the all-night convenience store she'd spotted earlier. She bought a thick box of bandages and a six-pack of cheap Mexican beer - just what you needed for a night of motel fun - then headed back out.
And stopped, looking around in the darkness. Something had her on edge all of a sudden. First Baba Yaga, and now this... is this a new Slayer thing? Gotta call B or something, ask her if she's got it, too...
A large animal-type figure came barreling out of some nearby shrubbery. Its one yellow eye watched Faith while the other one was pure white, unable to see through it. The furry canine growled, aiming straight for the dark Slayer, claws out and ready to tear into her.
"Oh, shit - " Faith dropped the bag - glad she'd gotten cans instead of bottles - and kicked the werewolf right in the gut. "Easy there, Snoopy..."
The werewolf growled, staring straight at her with fury as it recovered. It drew slowly nearer, keeping its predatory gaze on the Slayer. Suddenly, it lashed out and smacked Faith right in the head with its heavy paw.
"Dammit!" Faith stumbled. She didn't like the way this was going. She didn't have anything that would only SLOW down a werewolf. Couldn't kill the guy. Didn't want to stay close-in, in case it bit her. Can a Slayer even GET wolfed out? She kicked the wolfman, this time in the face, and then eased back, looking for something she could use to subdue him.
The kick angered the wolf even more. With its good eye, he continued to stare at her and kept drawing nearer and nearer to Faith, waiting. A noise caught its attention and it saw a bunch of drunk teenagers stumbling around and laughing. In that moment, it lost interest in Faith and moved towards the more vulnerable group of people.
"Son of a - " Faith looked around again, then realized she'd have to get violent here. She drew the knife that she always wore and charged after the werewolf, tackling it from behind and trying to pin it down. She held the knife up so the beast could see it. "Get it?"
The teenagers looked up at the fight not too far from where they stood, watching.
The wolf growled and tried to buck Faith off of it, raising another heavy paw to knock Faith away.
"Sorry, man," Faith said, slashing at the werewolf's arm with the knife, deliberately cutting shallow. She wanted to drive this thing off, not maim it. So far.
It growled in pain, this time, finally able to fling Faith away from it. It stood there glaring at Faith then back at the teenagers who were frozen. Blood soaked its arm and it backed away and disappeared into the darkness.
"Wh-what was that?" the first female teen asked Faith. "Was that, like, some big pit bull?"
Faith stared at the girl. "Actually, it was a werewolf, sweetie," she said, smiling cheerfully as she wiped the blood off her knife. "Have a nice night." She turned on her heels and ran off in chase of the werewolf. Fifteen minutes later, she gave up. No sign of it. Maybe it had crawled off to wait out the night...
Ten minutes after giving up the hunt, Faith nudged open the hotel room door. "Hey, sorry, ran into - " She stopped and frowned. Xander wasn't in sight. "Yo! You okay?" she yelled, hearing shuffling in the bathroom.
From inside the bathroom, Xander's voice was muffled. "Uh, I think so..." he said, very unsure. He emerged from the bathroom, his hair wet, face kind of pale. He had new clothes on than from when she left him as thunder boomed lightly. He wore a long-sleeved button up shirt. "Hey, there. What took you so long?"
"Had to do a little dog-catching," Faith said, telling Xander about her encounter with the werewolf.
"You saw a... whoa," he said with a shake of his head. "We can't go anywhere without finding SOMETHING weird. And we thought only Sunnydale and Cleveland were the only hot spots. You okay?" He noticed the faint hint of a bruise on her cheek.
"Ah, I'll live." She handed him a can of warm beer. "Here. Now strip. I wanna see those cuts you got."
Staring at the beer, he shook his head. "I'm fine. I just.. I looked at them when I was in there. Um, they're not TOO bad." He moved his arm and hissed in pain. "This hurts like hell, though."
"What happened to your arm?" Faith asked, staring at it and seeing the blood slowly seeping through. She looked him in the face. "Oh, shit, Xander, don't tell me..."
"Tell you what?" he asked, confused. He pulled his arm out of the sleeve to show her and looked down at the cut. "I think I got cut with some knife when I was in the brawl or something. I didn't really notice it before until I was bleeding all over the bed. We need maid service, by the way."
"Xander, none of those jackasses had knives," Faith said. "But I did," she said, pulling out her own knife, which was still a bit red. "FUCK!"
Xander winced at her sudden outburst. "Well, um, do you always carry a knife? But that's good 'cause of when big furry things attack you. And anyway, what does YOU having a knife have to do with this? It's not like you went after me with it! I think I would've noticed that because I would probably be screaming like a girl." He began to chuckle then realized she wasn't laughing. "What is it, Faith?"
"Take your shirt off," Faith said tersely. "Please, Xander."
Xander blinked and nodded. "Um, okay..." He pulled the long sleeve shirt off, followed by removing the one underneath that. His body was bruised with purple marks and one weird mark on his chest. "Isn't pretty is it?"
"No." Faith knelt down and took a close look at the strange bruise in particular. "Shit. That must be... fuck. We need a Watcher or something," she sighed, then looked up at Xander. "Where have you been all this time?" she asked, hoping it would lead Xander to the same conclusion she'd already arrived at.
"Asleep? I woke up and... I was in the bed." He looked over at the bed. "Kind of... naked."
"Naked?"
"It happens sometimes." He laughed nervously. "Okay, not without me knowing. Wait..." He looked at her. "Are you...? You don't think...?" He looked down at the one bruise on his chest and realized that it wasn't just some random marking. It was a marking of something. He touched it lightly.
"Yeah, I do," Faith said glumly. "Fuck."
Xander didn't know what to think about it. "I'm pulling an Oz?" He stood up, frazzled. "Oh, man. And I attacked you, didn't I? Oh, man... not wanting to be a werewolf right now! Right ever!" He ran his hand through his hair, wincing at the cut. "What... how?"
"Those biker bitches," Faith said, wearily sitting down on the bed. "I can't believe it. Fuck. We'll have to - What do we do?"
"Wait, wait! I thought you can only become a werewolf if one of them BIT you. I would definitely have known if I was bitten by one of those guys. You think..." He looked down at the mark again. "This has something to do with it? I know one of them punched me here - hard. He was even wearing a stupid ring when he did it." He rubbed it and grimaced.
"A ring?" Faith bit her lip. "You think that did it? So - how does that work? Some kind of magic werewolf ring?"
"Hey, I don't know. Do I have 'watcher' written on my forehead?" He closed his eye. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you." He sighed, slipping his shirt back on. and wincing in pain. "Maybe we should just go back there and politely ask. Maybe YOU should, and I can... be locked away somewhere," he added glumly.
"Locked away?" Faith looked down at the floor. It was probably the best idea. But where? "All I have is a pair of handcuffs. Doubt they'd work."
Xander knitted his brows. "What are you doing with a pair of handcuffs?" he automatically asked.
"It was a birthday surprise," Faith answer coolly.
"For me?" he asked with a smile. "Well, don't get it all broken. If I live through this, I'm expecting an early surprise." He sighed walking over to the window. He saw the black sky as rain began to fall. "The moon's gone. Maybe that's why I'm ... me." He turned back to her. "I think I'll be okay for a little bit. I'll go with you. But promise me one thing, okay?" He came up to her, his face solemn.
"What?" she asked, a trifle nervous from the look on his face.
He held her arms, trying to smile for her. "Don't hold back next time. I really don't want to hurt anyone when I'm all... furry. It would royally suck."
"Xander, I..." She trailed off. "We'll see."
He hugged her. "So, we're gonna go see us some biker boys?" he asked, trying to hide his worry.
"Hell yeah," Faith said with the same false bravado. "Too bad we don't have any pliers..."
Xander blinked. "Pliers? What for?" he asked, then it dawned on him. "Oh. Ouch. Maybe we can think of another way for them to reverse this... um, assuming it can be reversed." His face fell a little. How could they be sure it could be? Oz was still a werewolf the last they saw him. Which meant...
"Well, that's what's so weird about this," Faith said as they walked down the hall to the elevator. "That's not a bite mark on your chest," she told him. "So... fuck. We really need to find a Watcher, Xander. Let's just find these idiots and beat the shit out of them."
A bit later...
Faith kicked open the door to the bar and strode in. "Hey, bitches," she said, grinning cheerfully at the biker werewolves. "Miss me?"
The lead guy turned at the sight of Faith and Xander, who was kind of lingering behind her. "Well, well, guess who's back!" he said to his friends who were spread out in the other tables.
"Yeah, guess who?" Faith counted the goons. Just five. Not too bad. She could take five.
"Come back for more, baby?"
Faith gave him a disdainful look. "Please. Ask me again when I'm really bored..."
He gulped down part of his beer. "Just resting while the storm is kinda going on outside. Just ended so the clouds will be clearing up soon. Am I right there, buddy?" He looked at Xander with a grin.
Xander was bracing himself against the wall, sweating and dizzy suddenly.
"See, that's the thing," Faith said, walking up to the lead biker. "I think he's hairy enough right about now. So this is what's going to happen. You're going to do your voodoo or whatever and make it so he doesn't turn into a dog when the clouds pass."
The lead biker looked her up and down. "What'll you do for me if I do? I got a few ideas, honey. Right before the moon shows itself, I get me a little... well, you know. Maybe you can ease it. Then we can talk about seeing if we even CAN get your boytoy back to his self. Can't really guarantee nothing, though."
"Hm." Faith scratched her jaw with one hand, then pointed down at her other hand - which was holding a knife about a millimeter away from the biker's privates. "What does that guarantee?" she asked in a husky whisper.
He frowned, not having remembered her even moving to grab a knife. He met her eyes, trying not to feel threatened by this GIRL. "You're playing outta your league, baby. You got maybe less than 15 minutes before we do our thing. That knife isn't gonna help you." He put his hand out. "Now hand it over before your hurt your sweet self."
"Fifteen minutes? I could have you skinned and grilling in ten," Faith countered, glaring at the biker. "Trust me. Unless you want a demonstration." She twitched her knife hand a bit. "Fix Xander, or I'll fix you."
"Faith!" cried Xander as two bikers were coming up behind her and reaching out to take her arms. He was really fighting the sickness he was feeling, knowing it was coming. He stood up, wobbly, and tried to move forward only to stumble right on his face.
"Fuck!" Faith grabbed the lead biker by the arm, spun him around and pressed her knife up against his throat. She swivelled around so that she was facing the two wannabe-rescuers. "All right. Everyone who doesn't want to get the shit kicked out of them, get out now." Most of the customers hurried out, with only two remaining in one of the back booths. Faith glared at the stay behinds, then shrugged. Okay, fine. They can watch the show. "This is my last warning before I start cutting. Frankly, I don't give a crap. We'll just hole him up in the meat locker until dawn, then figure out another way to cure him. But if you guys don't wanna end up on the menu, I suggest you lend us a hand. Now."
The two bikers stopped, seeing their leader in sudden danger. The leader squirmed, surprised at how he couldn't easily break his beefy arms out of her. But the knife was very much too close to try harder.
Then there was a click behind the two ready bikers.
Xander had found his way to his feet and had produced the gun that he had used back at Dmitri's house. He pointed to one of the two. "You heard her," he said, his trigger hand shaking a little. "I might be a bad aim with the feeling of the bad, but at this close range, I would hit something."
"Trust me, I've seen him shoot. He'll miss right where you don't want him to," Faith whispered.
The leader cringed as the blade cut slightly. "Okay!" he cried. "I'll-I'll tell you!"
"Okay. Tell."
"He has... he has to come to me," the leader told Faith. "Uh, close to me."
"Why?" Faith asked suspiciously. "Don't try and screw us..."
"I'm not, baby, I swear. My ring. On the-the arm that's behind my back. I hafta ... brand him a-again with the symbol of the wolf."
"You hafta? Or can anybody?" Faith asked, still holding him firmly. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the two stay-behind customers were gone now. "Well?"
"Just me. I'm the only one who possesses the power, I swear it!" He squirmed under her, hoping to break out.
"Quit it," Faith snapped, tightening her grip on him.
The sweat on Xander's forehead was dripping down as the minutes ticked on. "Faith... I... I'll do it. I don't have much of a choice."
"Okay. But pull anything and I'll gut you," Faith warned the biker, releasing him just enough so he could move his arms a little.
The leader nodded, suddenly believing it.
Xander kept the gun trained on the two other bikers as he made his way closer to Faith and the leader. When he was within arm's reach, he lowered the gun. "Okay, here..." He cringed, holding his stomach.
"The newbies are always the ones who feel it the most. Wussies," the leader added. He pulled his arm out from behind him, making a fist and looking at the ring on his middle finger.
Faith just stood her ground, then cleared her throat. "Quit stalling, big guy," she said.
Damn, he thought. "Come here," he ordered Xander.
Xander stumbled forward. "Can we do the hurrying please?"
The leader grabbed the back of Xander's neck and slammed his fist into Xander's chest - hard. He kept his fist there and began chanting something in what sounded like Old English, something you wouldn't expect from a large biker.
Xander squirmed and let out grunts of pain, falling forward when the lead biker had released him.
"There," the lead biker said. "It's done."
"Xander? You okay?" Faith asked, staring down at him in concern.
Xander couldn't answer, just put his hand up and made an 'ok' symbol. "I need some help getting up, though, and... just saying, I think we should hurry."
"Good point. Nice meeting you, chuckles," Faith said, shoving the lead biker away and hurrying to help Xander to his feet. "If he wolfs out... snip," she said, waving her knife and then helping Xander out the door.
Xander tried to get his balance just as he heard the bikers start to get their bearings together. He got to the bike and waited for Faith to start it up and take them away. He hugged her from behind and leaned his head against her, still not feeling 100. "Babe, next time you get a craving for local food, can I choose the place? I TOLD you this place wasn't sanitary."
"You can choose the place... you can even choose the fucking city. My choices are all washes," Faith laughed as they tore down the streets of Philly. "Where to next, then, mighty leader?"
Xander heard the howling behind them and glanced back. "Uh, how about as far away from here as possible?" He then hugged her again, going through the list of cities in his head. "Ever wanted to see the White House?"
"DC, huh? Well, it ain't that far, but... sounds good to me." She wished she could hug him back. "Or... we could go back and kick the shit out of the werewolves."
"That's a big fat 'no' if I ever heard one. Besides, there so much dirt going on in our nation's capital, there can't be room for supernatural crap, right?"
"Yeah..." Faith was unconvinced - she wanted to pound the werewolves flat for what they'd done to Xander, but the sudden appearance of about ten police cars changed her mind. She eased over as the squad cars raced past. "Okay. You win. Let's split," she said with a laugh.