BITE

4

To Aziraphale's great relief, the car stood parked where he thought it had. Just as Crowley had described, it stood by the nearest park next to the ticket meter, yet the angel could see no old lady. He was now panting heavily and there was not much he could do about it than keep on walking with the demon in a tight grip around his neck. Both hands and the shoulder of his shirt, where the demon had leaned against, were stained with blood. His exhalations turned to mist as it left his lips, and it was with wary eyes he watched the car slowly getting closer by each slow step. The demon was aloof, and his long legs were not far from stumbling each time they moved. His breathing was quick and faint, and the angel was not even certain Crowley had his eyes opened.

When they had reached the park, the streets of London were empty, except for the few people who made their way home from pubs or restaurants. The park were lit up by the few streetlights, and the light from the many stores which still shone, even though none were there to see it.

They stopped, and Aziraphale had to bend over to catch his breath. "Where's the keys?" he wondered while he cast a glare at the demon, who in some mysterious way had managed to approach a lonely tree by himself, which he now stood leaned against. His head had sunken towards his chest and if the angel hadn't known better, he would have presumed Crowley had fallen asleep. Slowly he opened his eyes and all the angel got as an answer was a dull glance. "Alright then" he pursed his lips bitterly and walked over to Crowley. He swallowed before he carefully reached down his hand in the pockets of the demon's jacket.

"I" breathed Crowley, and Aziraphale shuddered when he realized he stood so close to the demon, he could feel his breath on his face. "I can get it myself" All the angel got himself to answer was a short nod, as he quickly took a step backwards from him. The demon closed his eyes, and with a hand held out before him, he inhaled. This gesture made it appear like he was about to do something extremely difficult which required both strength and intelligent, when truly the great task was to fish up the keys from his inner pocket. In the demon's current state, this was, however, not so simple it might sound. With a shaky hand, he tried to open his jacket and felt for the keys in his pocket. He grunted when he realized the pocket was empty, and that he would have to do the whole thing again.

Aziraphale watched the process with sceptical eyes, while he rubbed his hand together to awake them from the numbness from the cold. "I'm afraid this is taking too long" he spoke while he headed back to Crowley and opened his jacket to be able to reach the keys. "There we go" he smiled in relief when he collected the keys. For a moment, he had thought the demon had manage to lose them somehow, but was truly grateful that was not the case.

"I was" Crowley swallowed, with a finger pointed at the angel, "just about to do that"

"I'm sure you were" the angel nodded, with some sense of sharpness in his voice. He hastened over to the car and opened it, he flinched slightly when he turned around and realized that the demon stood right behind him. Clumsily, he took a hold of the ceiling, so quickly that the Aziraphale had to duck not to get hit in the head by Crowley's unpredictable movement. "Um, what are you doing?" he watched the demon with his hands on his waist.

"I'm going to drive my car home" he began, and he looked just as confused as Aziraphale. "But you're in the way, angel"

Aziraphale scoffed, as he shook his head, "Crowley, you are in no condition to drive" he made no attempt to move to let the demon climb into the front seat.

Those words appeared to be very difficult for the demon to understand, for he watched the angel with narrowed, dull eyes and a half opened mouth. "So you're gonna drive the Bentley?"

"yes, I'm going to drive the Bentley" the angel nodded, and spoke very slowly in order for the demon to catch up. Then he took a gentle hold of Crowley's hand, and led it away from the roof of the car, while the demon glared at him with doubtful eyes. Unwillingly, he followed Aziraphale to the passenger's side and the angel patiently helped the bitter demon inside. Then he walked around the old, black car, inhaled sharply and climbed into the driver's seat.