Elijah stepped out again into the cobbled streets. The City That Never Slept was apparently not involved with this part of town. The rabbi grinned, and hoped that a tumbleweed would roll through, just for the hell of it. He pulled out the vial of ash, and held it up to the moon. The crisp blue light sifted through the glass, and revealed the Hebrew symbols, still drifting like smoke from the ashes.
Elijah could vaguely remember the first time he had seen a demon. A claw. A piercing scream, from who or what he couldn't recall. And then a flash. A loud thunderclap, right behind him. The demon falling to its knees. Howling. More thunderclaps. Ash. Turning around, and a man stood there. He couldn't remember if he thanked him or not. Maybe he fell on his knees and thanked God for being alive. Maybe he just ran away.
God. Now there was something Elijah hadn't had to think about in a long time. Kinda funny, now that he considered it. Elijah tried a chuckle or two, to see if that would work. He sighed, and headed back towards the synagogue. There was that fee still.
He wondered if the other orders had it this bad. The Catholics, well, they were a big enough religion, they had to have boarding and food. But that was just how it was, wasn't it? There were other orders, though, right? Of course. Had to be. The idea of convents never really caught on big in Judaism, so the members were more or less on their own. At least they got paid decently.
"Mommy, there's a strange man outside."
Elijah looked up. There was a small child, gazing curiously out of his window. Elijah took his hat off, smiled politely, and waved. The mother rushed to the child's side, pulling him away.
"Sweetie, don't talk to strangers. Especially one of them." She waited for a few minutes, to make sure the Jew didn't try anything suspicious.
Elijah sighed again. He grinned once more, a little more forced this time.
"How do you do? My name is Elijah, I'm just making my way home."
Glare.
"...I'm a rabbi, down at the synagogue over that way." He pointed awkwardly, now even shuffling his feet.
Glare.
"...Well, I'll be off. Nice meeting you." Elijah replaced his hat and began walking away.
Glare. Glare. Glare.
As soon as the mother descended back into her home, Elijah broke into a run. There were just some things worse than hellspawn.