Title: Eldritch
Author: jennaravenrose
Fandom: Sherlock, BBC
Rating : M
It was pouring. The rain was coming down in sheets. She closed her eyes and tilted her face to the deluge. People scampered indoors running for cover from the downpour. She smiled, it felt wonderful. So cold so wet, like thousands of icy tongues running down her skin. Some of the people turned briefly to stare at the young woman standing there in the rain. She was wearing only a thin cotton shirt and a rather short skirt that skimmed her mid thigh. A pair of sandals on her otherwise bare feet. She looked for all the world like an out of place tourist that hadn't prepared for London's rather fickle weather.
A now throughly soggy newspaper was clutched in one hand. The ink from the print and the circles she had made around certain ads dripped from her fingertips to the sidewalk. Her platinum hair was plastered to her back by the moisture. This was the last one on the list and she still had a block to go. She lowered her head when someone shouted at her.
Turning ever so slightly she spotted who had interrupted her thoughts. A man with a black car that said cab was waiting by the curb, clearly hoping she would get in.
"I said, Lady do you want a ride?" said the man
She inclined her head ever so slightly
"No thank you , I would rather walk" she said politely then resumed her trek.
The dumbfounded man stared after her scratching his head in confusion. Finally he reasoned she was either a tourist or crazy, perhaps even both. The man folded his umbrella and got back in his car. With a sigh he surveyed the mostly empty street and the strange woman walking away from him like she was taking a Sunday stroll.
She hummed an old song as she walked and playfully splashed in some of the puddles just like a child. The sun was down and the street was almost deserted, so she felt just a bit relaxed. She twirled briefly caught up in the moment, she felt alive and oh so refreshed. She caught sight of the canopy she was looking for and glanced at the numbers beside the doors.
She had spoken to the old woman just the other day. She sounded sweet and very old. Thankfully not like the lecherous old man at the last one she looked at. The apartment had been nice but his thoughts had betrayed him and there was no way she would rent that place now. It wasn't as if she couldn't have handled him but a killing would have drawn unwanted attention. She wanted to stay for awhile.
She liked the rain and London was almost perfect in that regard. She opened her mind ever so slightly. The voices were subdued, people mostly trying to warm up or dry off. An annoyed cabby a few feet from her watching what he referred to as the crazy lady. She frowned when she saw her own image in his mind. She quelled the rising anger and turned her attention to the abode in front of her.
Three mind voices greeted her probe. One worried and giving up about renting a place no one seemed to want, one was seriously annoyed with the other one, who seemed completely bored and smug. Yes that was it smug, he did not want a new neighbor and fully intended to frighten off any who were interested.
She withdrew her probe and snorted, she would like to see him try. She stepped forward and rang the bell. The voices halted inside. She listened with both her ears and her other sense to what was going on inside.
"Oh dear, who could that be in this weather?" said the old woman
Mrs Hudson she mentally corrected. She heard someone move towards the door.
"Oh my what is she doing out in this weather, the poor dear" said the woman
just before she opened the door.
She tilted her head and regarded the shorter old woman in the doorway.
"Mrs Hudson?" she said
"Yes and you are?" said Hudson
Recalling the moniker she gave the woman, she smiled at her and extended her hand
"Eldritch Rayne, I believe we spoke on the ..phone about a flat" said El
The old woman looked shocked then dismayed.
"Oh dear yes, now I remember but I did not think you would come out in this weather" said the woman El cast a momentary glance at the street, just what was wrong with this weather?
"Oh please do come in, where are my manners making you stand out there in the rain like that" said Hudson
The old woman stepped back and El walked into the abode. She inhaled deeply taking in the musty smell, the faint hint of lemon cleaner and was that? Oh yes, leather bound books. The clatter on the stairs alerted her that one of the men had come down from upstairs. El took a moment to look him over, he was handsome, blond and slightly older.
"Oh goodness! John can you fetch a towel, she's dripping every where" said Hudson
John had been staring at the newcomer until Mrs Hudson shook him free of his distraction.
"Yes of course" said John.
He moved slowly upstairs to fetch a towel. She noticed he moved with a limp same as the old woman. "You must be freezing how about some nice hot tea to warm you up a bit" said Hudson
El smiled, not that she needed warming up but there was genuine concern beneath the womans words. Which was unusual but nice.
"Yes that would be lovely" said El
The man came back downstairs holding a fluffy blue towel in his hands.
"Here you go miss" said John
Mrs Hudson took it from his hands and with a clucking noise wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Thank you John" said Hudson
The man blinked owlishly and looked away suddenly a slight blush rising to his cheeks. El calmly wiped the water from her face and followed the older woman into her abode.
"Now to be fair, I must tell you its in the basement" said Mrs Hudson
She walked towards her kitchen and El listened to the odd noises coming from inside. She wasn't sure if she should sit on the cream colored sofa or the equally fluffy pink chair. Mrs Hudson came out of the kitchen.
"There now I've put the kettle on, here you can sit here" said Hudson
She pulled one of her kitchen chairs out for El to sit on. El nodded and walked towards it, she calmly sat down.
"Now why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, you didn't say much over the phone, just that you wanted to look at the place" said Hudson
El nodded and took a moment to compose herself or rather the carefully crafted facade she had created. Something that would blend with whatever accent she decided would go best with this persona. At the same time she took stock of the old woman's mental state.
"What is it you wish to know?" said El
She had the money the woman was asking for and more than enough to rent furniture while she was here.
"You know the usual what do you do for a living, where you are from?" said Hudson
"Oh computers mostly, my company transferred me" said El
She firmly resisted the urge to smirk because it would look out of place.
"Oh, really I am sorry to hear that. I am absolutely rubbish with electronics" said Hudson
El smiled at the old woman. So was she but she could always make it work another way.
"Transferred from where? If you don't mind me asking, you do not sound like your from England dear" said Hudson
El resisted the urge to grin like an idiot.
"No I'm not, I'm from the states, is that a problem?" said El
She let her voice take on that musical quality that was so effective at convincing people to let her have her way.
"No of course not, its just that we don't get many people from across the pond as it were" said Hudson
El backed down calming the rather irrational side of her personality that wanted to lash out. The teapot whistled and El barely covered the wince as it drove a spike of pain straight through her skull. Mrs Hudson thankfully stopped the noise before she gave in to the urge to flee the sound.
"Would you like cream and sugar? I am not sure how they take tea over in the states" said Hudson
El was slowly regaining her senses and only half heard the question.
"Miss Rayne are you all right dear?" said Mrs Hudson
"Yes just a bit of jet lag, so sorry you were saying" said El
"Cream or sugar?" said Hudson
"Both please, lots of it" said El
Hudson chuckled and poured some milk and sugar into both cups. She hobbled back to El and set the cup before her. El gratefully picked it up and took a tentative sip. It was too hot for most people but El liked it that way though. At Mrs Hudson perplexed look, she stopped herself from downing the whole cup while it was scalding hot . She set the cup down and gazed at Mrs Hudson.
"So when can I see it?" said El
"Well truthfully I wasn't expecting anyone today but since you did come all this way in the rain" said Mrs Hudson.
Raised voices from upstairs caught her attention and she glanced at the ceiling.
"Oh don't mind them, they very rarely get loud" said the old woman
El could hear the desperation in her voice and the unspoken mantra in her mind of, please don't walk away, oh please. El shrugged off the argument even though she could clearly hear just what they both were saying about her. A phone rang and she listened to one of the men talk to someone named Lestrade and then hang up.
"We have a case, come along John" said the other man.
El took another sip of her tea and smiled at Mrs Hudson. She heard them both descend the stairs and the outer door opened and then closed. The two other minds were now walking away from the building and right for the annoying cabby from earlier. El resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"The place?" said El
"Oh yes, they'll be back later. I suppose I can always introduce you to them later, if you like the place that is" said Hudson
The woman stood and hobbled towards the door grabbing a keyring from beside the door. El gulped down the last of her tea and followed her. Hudson walked to the staircase that was going down and hobbled down the stairs. El calmly followed and watched Mrs Hudson work at unlocking the door. It took the old woman a few minutes
"Door sticks a bit when it rains, the moisture you know" said Hudson
Finally the door opened and the old woman proceeded her into the room. El calmly looked around. There was one big room with a fireplace on one end. To the right of the door was a small kitchen and beyond the fireplace was a small hallway.
"It's in a basement, no windows I'm afraid but.." said Hudson
El made a scoffing noise and she stopped talking abruptly.
El moved slowly through the room. It had a warm cozy feel. Yes there was that musty smell but to her it smelt like home, yes this is what she had been looking for. She wandered down the small hall and found a small bathing room and a bedroom. Mrs Hudson was nervously biting her bottom lip and El just couldn't help but listen in to what she was thinking. Oh thank the lord sherlock got a case, this will go so much smoother if he isn't here to scare her away, such a nice girl but oh so strange. El smiled to herself, yes that just about summed her up. El exited the room
"I will take it, where do I sign?" said El
Mrs Hudson looked completely shocked for a few minutes and then recovered quickly
"Oh this way, really?" said Mrs Hudson
"Yes ,do you have objections?" said El
"No, no of course not" said Hudson
The old woman quickly led her back to her place and rifled through a stack of papers on her desk. She set a sheet in from of El and handed her a pen
"Is it okay if I bring you the money tomorrow?" said El
"Yes of course" said El
"I'll leave you a deposit if you like" said El
She had enough real currency on her to cover the deposit. The rest she would have to gleen tonight. El filled out the form leaving the next of kin blank and giving an address of a vacant lot in the states as her former address. After she filled out the paperwork, she handed Mrs Hudson the money and took her leave of the old woman.
Mrs Hudson hesitated about letting the girl leave in this storm but El said she would hail a cab. Not that she had any intention of doing so but if it appeased the woman then so be it. El stepped back out into the rain and gave a short wave to the old woman waiting in the door. There were no cabs on the street so El walked a bit aways from the house. She could hear the old woman grumbling about having to call a cab. El waved her arms like she was hailing a cab.
In fact there was nothing there but a quick whisper under her breath and the old woman saw a cab pick the girl up. Mrs Hudson closed the door and El straightened from her position of talking to the cab driver. Dismissed the cab with a wave. It pulled away and vanished into the night. El kept walking down the street until she reached the hotel she was staying at. She entered the lobby without so much as a glance at the man behind the desk. He didn't even look up from his paper.
In fact if he had he wouldn't have noticed her anyways, unless she wanted him to. Which she didn't because she had never really paid for the room she was currently in. She pushed the button and the weary metal box made its way to the lobby. She could have stayed at a nicer hotel but she really didn't want to draw attention to herself. She was supposed to be laying low because she didn't want him to find her.
Just once, she wanted a few years in a place where she wouldn't have to run for the hills whenever he appeared. The elevator door slid open with a grinding noise. She climbed on-board and hit the button for her floor. The doors closed with the same nerve wracking noise and the box jerked into motion.
It stopped on her floor and she exited the lift and walked down the hall carefully avoiding the threadbare pieces in the carpet that could catch your heel if you were unwary. She reached her door. With a quick glance in either direction to make sure she was alone, El passed her hand over the lock and the door clicked open.
She pushed her way inside the door and quickly closed it. She walked towards her bags and opened the one she knew contained the currency. She moved the clothes and lifted out the false bottom. She grabbed the small bag out from underneath the weapons and unzipped it. After separating the currency types into piles she counted the British pounds and frowned. She was short quite a bit and she would still need to get furniture.
Even if she cashed in all of her other foreign currency, she was still three hundred pounds short. She flopped down on the bed. She needed money and she didn't dare gleen it for the landlady. It could cost her the place if the woman figured out the bills were false. She sighed and looked at her bag. She didn't like doing this but she would have no choice. Groaning she slid open the zipper on her other bag and pulled a case from inside.
She opened it and regarded the musical instrument inside. The weather was horrendous right now, which would mean no customers. She groaned and closed the case. What was she going to do now, she had promised the old woman the rest of her money but short of stealing it she was stuck. The words stealing it stuck in her head. True she could influence people but could she influence them enough to give her three hundred pounds?
Probably if it was the right person . She would also have to ,gulp, actually get a job or at least do a performance once a month to cover her expenses. No a job would be best. She told the old woman computers and truthfully she was good with any machine really. She uncrumbled the paper in her hand and frowned.
The majority of the ink was unreadable. She placed her fingers at the crinkled edges and whispered several words in an ancient language. The paper shimmered and then the ink started running back where it belonged. Some of the words were still a bit pale but at least now it was readable. She quickly found an ad for an IT person at a hospital. She would check it out tomorrow. St Bart's didn't know it yet but they could send the other candidates home.
It gave an web address so she wrote it down., changed into something dry and warmer. She really didn't need anymore curious questions right now. She shoved her feet into a pair of slip ons and headed down to the Internet cafe on the corner. She signed in and sat down at one of the empty spots. Choosing one way in the back so if she had to do anything she wouldn't be seen doing it.
She opened the browser and typed in the address for the site. Most of the information was easy to provide and she put down the apartment as her new address and lied about a few things in her job history. When it came time to upload her resume she glanced around. There was a bored clerk behind the counter with his nose buried in a comic book. She smiled and whispered again. Willing the screen to form words that would get her hired no matter what.
She read over the credentials and committed them to memory. So she could change their information to reflect her resume. She clicked send and did a quick search for currency exchanges in the area. She noted he hours of the lone one she found within a block of the hotel and smirked because a plan had just occurred to her. Why exchange the ones as ones when they could be hundreds to anyone else she wants to see them that way.
Doing a quick mental calculation of the amount of ones she had and the fives. She figured that if they all were hundreds and fifties except for a few, she would have more than enough for the place and furniture. Her stomach grumbled and she added food to the list. She pulled up the companies on her resume. She set about hacking them to change her information or in some cases adding it in the first place.
The reason for leaving or termination left her stymied in a few cases. Until she thought up the sick relative angle. If she claimed a sick relative in some of the cities she moved to, all of her moving around made sense. She doubted they would look too deeply anyways especially if she had the skills to back up her boasts.
She finished up quickly when the clerk said they were about to close. She grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. There was a fast food place just down the street. She could grab something and head back to the hotel. She would need some time to change those bills anyway.
After a brisk walk to the restaurant, she was walking back to the hotel when she spotted the cars. Several police cars were situated at the end of an alley. She stopped to look along with the small crowd. There were several officers standing around. One woman officer was complaining about a freak to another officer.
She turned slightly and spotted the man who had brought her a towel earlier. He was holding an umbrella over what looked like a dead body. Kneeling next to said body was a man with dark hair. Curious she thought about extending a mental feeler to see what it was he was doing with a dead body.
Was the man a cop? If so how did he know John? Her stomach did a nervous little flip, suddenly unsure if she wanted a cop living upstairs. She vowed to ask Mrs Hudson tomorrow when she came by with the money. Having a cop upstairs might complicate things. She had seen enough, so she continued in the direction she had previously been going. Entered her hotel and headed for her room once more. Four hours later the bills were done and she was sleeping.
A ringing noise woke her up. With a groan she rolled over to smash it and stopped herself just in time before she crushed her phone. She flipped it open and held it to her head.
"Yes?" said El
"Eldritch Rayne?" said the voice on the other end.
"Yes" said El
"Hi ,I'm Lisa Holden with St Bart's human resources, you put in an application for one of our open positions" said the woman
El started to nod then remembered the woman couldn't see it.
"Yes" said El
"I was wondering if you could come in for a job interview sometime today?" said Ms Holden
"Sure" said El
"How does 3 o'clock sound?" said Lisa
El smiled, "That would be perfect" said El
"All right I'll see you then" said Lisa and hung up.
El closed the phone and chuckled. Her geas had worked better than she thought it would, she had just put in that application last night. El rolled out of bed, she needed to get her other errands done before the interview and buy a suit for the interview.
El dressed quickly and scooped the money into her bag, slid her shoes on and headed for the exchange. After an hour and half in line she no longer felt bad about cheating them. When she reached the window she set her money in front of the man behind the counter.
"I need this in pounds please" said El
The man dully counted the money and gave El a stack of pound notes for her piles of foreign currency and a receipt that he had her sign a copy of. El shoved everything into her bag then headed for the tube. She had a suit to buy and a deposit to make on an apartment.
She stopped by the apartment first and gave Mrs Hudson the money. She asked to old woman about the men upstairs, remembering the crime scene last night. The old woman hesitated until El dug out the cash.
"No of course not, John's a doctor and Sherlock just consults for Scotland yard, he isn't a cop, fancies himself a consulting detective though" said Mrs Hudson
El waved off her offer of tea pleading work and the need to shop for furnishings. It was at least partially true. El hailed a cab for real this time and gave the man a name of a store she saw on-line the other night. He grunted and drove her there. El picked out some rather odd furnishings the place just wanted to get rid of and went into the shop next door for her suit.
She had just enough time to retrieve her bags from the hotel and deposit them in her new place before she had to go to the interview. The hotel clerk never even knew she was there as she strutted past him, grabbed her stuff and climbed into another cab to go to the apartment.
She dropped her bags inside the door to the bedroom. The furniture wouldn't be here until tomorrow so Mrs Hudson offered her a cot she had in her storage. El gratefully accepted and disappeared into the room to change into her suit. She came out dressed to the nines in a very nice suit.
"Oh you look lovely dear, is that new?" said Hudson
"Yes all my other ones had to be pressed so I bought another" said El
The lie falling smoothly from her lips yet again. El slipped her feet into a pair of heels.
"Where are you off to dear?" said Hudson
She almost slipped up and said she had a job interview.
"Work, I have some paperwork to fill out apparently" said El
"Well if you like I serve the boys dinner around eight, you are welcome to join us if you like" said Hudson
El checked her thoughts, picking up the worry that someone named Sherlock would scare her away.
"I would be delighted" said El
She grabbed her purse and ushered Mrs Hudson out, so she could lock the door.
"Well good luck then and I'll see you later tonight" said Hudson
El nodded yes and headed for the door. She waved goodbye to the old woman and climbed into a cab two men just exited.
The blond of the two looked vaguely familiar but El had no time for idle chit chat.
Mrs Hudson was on the outside of the building shoving something into the front of the mailbox for apartment C.
"She rented it?" said John
Sherlock paused his hand on the doorknob.
"Come along John we've no time for that now" said Sherlock
"Oh yes, yes she did just put the first of her things in a few minutes ago, she had to go to work poor dear she just got here and already they call her in."said Hudson
"She did not just get here she's been here for quite some time, staying in a hotel I'd imagine" said Sherlock
Mrs Hudson frowned at the young man.
"Don't you dare frighten this one away Sherlock I cannot afford for that place to be empty much longer" said Mrs Hudson.
Sherlock snorted and walked inside. John gave the old woman a reassuring pat on the shoulder and followed him inside. She huffed and followed the two men inside.
"I mean it Sherlock I have invited her to dinner and you will behave" said Mrs Hudson
Sherlock was of course ignoring her. The door slammed upstairs and Mrs Hudson fumed. John quietly opened the door and followed him inside.