Work Text:
author: Lucinda
rating: pg13
main characters: Xander Harris, Delilah
disclaimer: Xander was created by Joss, Delilah is from Gargoyles (Buena Vista, I think.)
distribution: Twisting & Mental Wanderings
notes: Twisting's FfA pairing # 853. Takes place after S3, in an AU road-trip that didn't end at Oxnard.
Xander sighed as his car refused to start. He'd decided to see as many states as he could over the summer, as a reason to get away from the Hellmouth. Maybe he'd been hoping that he could find something better. Now, in Manhattan, with almost no money, no place to stay because he hadn't found a hotel yet, and his car had just died.
"This is not a good thing." He popped the hood release, hoping that it would be something little, something that he could fix.
The quantities of what was either pale smoke or steam rising from under his hood was not a reassurring sight. Poking one hand towards it, he discovered that it was hot steam, and he immediately decided that he had no clue how to fix that. "Not a good thing."
The crunch of a foot on the street caught his attention, and he had an immediate flash of fear - vampires weren't limited to hanging out over the Hellmouth. They were all over. Probably including Manhattan. Slowly, he looked up.
The good news was that they looked human. The bad news was that there were four of them, one had a knife, and they didn't look friendly. Considering the way their clothing sort of matched, he figured that they were part of a gang. Wonderful, he'd left the Hellmouth, and was about to become the target of genuine gang violence.
"Give us your money." Knife-guy demanded, gesturing with the blade to make it catch the light in an intimidating manner.
Xander shook his head, feeling nervous, but nowhere near the abject fear that they probably wanted. Compared to vampires and zombies, these guys weren't that scary. "Sorry, but you're out of luck. If I had money, my car wouldn't be sitting there dead and spewing steam."
"Oh, you think you're a tough guy, huh?" Knife-guy demanded, and then lunged for Xander, clearly counting on surprise and intimidation.
Xander evaded the blow, sending the guy crashing into the hood of his car with a helpful shove. Maybe the guy thought he was fast, but Xander had been fighting vampires, and they could out-move any normal guy even when they were dumber than dirt.
"Why you stinkin'..." The rest of them jumped into the fight.
Xander knew that he was in trouble now. One human without special training, he could handle. Four of them, one with a knife? That was a problem, even if he had kept some moves from soldier boy back at Halloween. That would probably be just enough to move it from fast and painful to slow and painful. But he refused to give up that easily. He'd go down fighting, and make every single one of them regret thinking he was an easy mark.
There was a scream, like a panther and something else blended together, and following close behind it was a light colored something descending from the sky.
Xander took half a moment to hope that he wasn't about to become something's dinner, and kept trying to fight the gang members. He was pleasantly surprised when the flying thing grabbed one of the gang members and tossed him towards a wall. Between his own abilities and the arrival of the other creature, the gang members were quickly left in variations of painfully downed, but alive.
Trying to catch his breath, he took the moment to take a good look at the whatever it was. The new arrival was definitely female, and wore what looked like a bathing suit with a dark jacket and a belt. She had caramel colored skin, with white hair and undersides to her wings. There was a tail, and her hands and feet ended in sharp looking talons. She was also watching him, her face looking surprisingly human like and nervous.
"umm... thanks." Xander managed, still trying to catch his breath. He couldn't recall seeing anything like her in the many demon books that he'd helped search through, so he added, "What are you?"
"I'm a gargoyle." Her voice was soft, almost hesitant sounding. "My name's Delilah."
"Delilah... pretty name. And you had great timing." Xander smiled, feeling much better. If she'd been planning to attack him, she wouldn't be looking almost shy and telling him her name.
"You're not afraid?" She blinked, looking surprised and relieved. "Most humans... they're afraid of us."
"Us... there are more of you? Gargoyles, I mean." Xander blurted.
"Not a lot more." Her voice was soft, and there was something hard to read in her eyes. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"
"No. I hadn't got that far before my car died." He shrugged, trying to pretend that everything was okay.
She looked at him, biting her lip awkwardly. "Maybe... you could stay with us, in the Labyrinth?"
"You don't have a minotaur in there, do you?" Xander joked, turning to grab his duffel from the back of the car. "Or some guy who looks like David Bowie in tights?"
"No." She sounded a bit confused.
"well then, lead the way." Xander smiled, feeling much better. "Who am I to turn down the invitation of a pretty lady who just saved me?"
She giggled, blushing a little. "Who are you?"
"Xander Harris." He smiled, thinking that he might end up staying here for a while. Especially since he no longer had transportation. But that was starting to look like an okay thing.
Cautiously, she looped her arm through his, hesitantly smiling at him. "Maybe you'll like it here?"
"Maybe I will." He agreed, a corner of his mind wondering if Delilah had a boyfriend, and if not, if she'd consider dating outside her species. Another corner was trying to figure out if that would even be a safe idea. But then again, he'd never managed a good relationship with a human girl, and he tended to attract the weird types anyhow, why not go for it?
end Manhattan Meetings.