After making the call, I set off to the latest crypt that we knew Spike had taken up residence in. This was still done against my better judgment, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Like Giles said, he could probably be bought. I had a sudden idea and stopped by the blood bank. I knew a guy who knew a guy, so I was able to get a couple bags of blood. As much as I hated doing that for Spike, as he definitely didn't deserve the effort, I knew it would probably go farther in getting his help than any money could.

"Spike?" I reached the crypt and knocked on the door.

"What d'you want?" Spike grumbled as he opened the door. He glared at me. "Come to gloat over the fact that I'm helpless?"

"As much as I really enjoy doing that, no, my entire life is not consumed by the need to annoy you. That's your game," I replied, sighing at his self-centeredness. "Giles asked me to come and see if you'd be willing to help us out tonight."

Spike snorted with laughter. As if I expected any less from him. "Now why would I do a nancyboy thing like that?"

"The fun of beating up creatures without getting a headache in the process?" I suggested. "But if that's not a good enough reason, then how about because I come with a down payment which might interest you." I opened the paper bag my friend had put the blood bags in, and took one out. He snatched for it, but I jumped back outside into the sunlight. He snarled at me, and then howled, grabbing his head, screaming something about 'intent wasn't the same thing as actually attacking someone.' I couldn't help laughing. *It really is too much fun to watch him being all pathetic, after he's expended so much effort pre-Initiative to make all of our lives miserable. Post-Initiative too.* I frowned. I needed to not think about Spike and his knack for betrayal, because then I'd forget why I was asking him for his help.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked with a frown. He kept his voice down, probably so the chip wouldn't get the wrong idea again.

"Patience, Blondie," I said. "You didn't let me explain the deal. I've got two bags of human blood here. You get one now, if you agree to join the Slaying party tonight. You get the other one later tonight, when the evil has been defeated. Giles is willing to pay you for your help, too."

"What's the evil?" Spike asked.

"At the Halloween festival tonight, there's going to be an attack on the haunted house setup the high school cheerleaders organized. Some demons are gonna show up and kill a bunch of people," I replied.

"First of all, demons don't like Halloween. It's just too tacky," Spike said.

I waited, but he apparently didn't want to bother with his 'second of all' point yet. "Look, Spike. We know that, but we also know the information we've been given," I said patiently. "There's going to be trouble, and we're going to try to head it off."

"Second of all, what kind of demons?" Spike asked. "But I still say you're wrong."

I sighed in exasperation. He was like a two-year-old with fangs sometimes. "We don't know what kind of demons, Spike. Just demons."

"And you're just full of information. What do you know?" Spike questioned.

This was getting old. "What did I tell you?! We need to be at the Halloween festival tonight, there's going to be an attack on the haunted house!"

He looked at me as if he was going to insult my or the entire Scooby Gang's intelligence again, then shrugged instead. I sighed with relief. He was out of insults. "Fine. I'll take the blood, but not the money. I want something else in payment for my assistance in proving that you are all idiots." Not quite out of insults, apparently. I told myself to pay attention, as he was still babbling on. "I pissed off a Chaos demon last night, and I was planning on clearing out of here as soon as the sun went down tonight. But if my help is that important to you, maybe you could let me hide out at your place for a day or two."

"WHAT?! NO! NO WAY! NO FREAKIN' WAY! NO WITH A CAPITAL 'N'!" I glared too, just in case I hadn't made myself clear verbally. Spike as my roommate, that just wasn't even close to happening. Anya hadn't spoken to me for a week after the last time I'd been nominated for Spike-sitting. She didn't take kindly to not being able to have sex anytime she wanted. I'd had things moderately normal between the two of us lately, and I wasn't interested in pissing her off again.

Spike chuckled, "Tell me how you really feel. Fine, but that's the deal I'm offering. If you don't like it, you don't get my help. I don't know what you're so worried about. It's not like I really want to stay with you."

I looked at him in disbelief. He was lying through his fangs. "Big Bad" or not, Spike liked being waited on hand and foot. Once I let him in, I'd never get rid of him.

"Look, Xander. Two days. Three days maximum," Spike said. His eyes hadn't left the bag of blood in my hand since I'd dodged out of his reach with it.

"D'you promise?" I asked, and rolled my eyes at myself the minute the words were out of my mouth. Spike helped add to my feeling of being an idiot by laughing at me. And that's why asking Spike for help is always a bad idea. Insults and general contempt were the guaranteed results every time. *So WHY am I here, again?* "Bye," I said as I turned to go.

"Wait!" Spike yelled frantically. "I haven't fed in three days," he whined. Have I mentioned that he manages to look really pathetic sometimes? Well, this was one of those times.

"I'm not even considering letting you in my house unless you give me your word you'll be out in three days," I said. "And yes, I know how ridiculous it is that I'm even asking for you to give your word, when it's probably not worth the non-existent breath you use to give it. But humor me. And know that if you're not out in three days, I'll have the slayer kick your sorry ass out."

"Fine, I promise," he said eagerly. "Blood!" he added.

"And if you do anything to screw things up for us tonight, the deal's off," I warned him.

"Understood, now gimme the blood," he whined again, moving as close to the doorway as possible, while staying out of direct sunlight.

I tossed it to him, and he caught it, slipping into game face and sinking his fangs into the bag. I wrinkled my nose at the sight, it still gave me a mental 'Eww' to see him doing that. He sucked the bag dry in no time, then slipped back into his human face, retreating into the crypt. "So when are ya gonna tell me where you got this information about the attacks?" he asked, hopping up on a ledge.

I walked inside again, and suspected I was in for another dose of humiliation when I told him. "This is how I know what's going to happen tonight," I reached into my back pocket and showed him the newspaper, moving close enough so he could read the headline.

He looked at me, with probably the same look he'd perfected to use on Drusilla when she was acting crazy. "Um, Xander, unless they've changed the way they do things, the newspaper usually tells you stuff that's already happened," he said slowly.

I had rolled the paper back up again, and when he started in on me again, I smacked him upside the head with it.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Not fair, I can't fight back!" he yelled.

"I think that's of the good," I shrugged. "Spike, if you want to know the story, you're going to have to refrain from the disdainful comments for about five minutes."

"Fine, I'm bored. Tell me a story," Spike replied with a grin.

I filled him in on the events of the morning, and when I was done, he was looking at the wall behind me, a thoughtful look on his face. "What, no telling me I've gone off the deep end?" I asked.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember something," he muttered.

I waited, because I knew Spike had been around for long enough, and maybe he could shed some light on my 'paper from the future delivered by a cat' situation.

Then to my surprise, he burst out in a genuine smile. "Now I remember!" he said. "I saw it, on the telly, what was it called.... Early Edition or something like that. This guy who has a boring life suddenly becomes a superhero because he knows when the bad stuff is gonna happen, and stops it. He gets a paper delivery from a cat, too. The theme song is kinda catchy, "The time has come today..."

The shock of hearing Spike sing came second to the anger I felt at the moment. "I'm not making it up!" I yelled. I'd had enough. Insults were par for the course with Spike, but when he, a soulless killer demon, started accusing me of ....what? Making it all up to get attention? That was just too much.

Spike jumped. "Okay, whatever you say," he shrugged. "It's all true, the TV people took the idea from real life." The way he was looking at me, though, it was like he half-expected me to start babbling about the stars talking to me. He didn't believe me, he thought I was a mental case. *And that matters why?* I asked myself. *Like you told Giles earlier today, they'll all find out you weren't kidding after we save those people tonight.* "I'm going now, I have to find Anya. Meet us at Giles' place as soon as the sun goes down."

"Sure thing," Spike nodded.

I left, and on my way to Anya's, hoped that those demons did show up later. *I don't want the others thinking I'm losing it. They already think I'm incompetent.* I sighed. For the first time in my life, I wanted the supernatural stuff happening to me to be real. Not only that, I kind of wanted it to continue. And how twisted was that?