When the door slammed shut he stood looking at the bullet. Alastor knew what it was, but he didn't want to believe it. He bent down, fingers barely touching the metal, but he knew. It was a specially made bullet: made of Angelic steel. The shot wasn't meant to kill him, it was to completely erase him from existence.
He quickly teleported himself into his room. He pulled his jacket off, followed by his bow tie and shirt. The small wound had indeed reopened itself, though it was nothing compared to what it was before. He went to the bathroom to clean himself up. She had to be up to something, Ellen wasn't as hopefully optimistic as Charlie, she knew life was unfair, yet here she was fixing angelic wounds and saving his life.
She says she wants nothing in return but surely it was a lie. And now she held a life debt over him. He gritted his teeth. She trusted him, maybe a bit too much. He thought she would be easier to manipulate, yet she was proving to be a bit more stubborn. Everyone has a weakness yet he had failed to find hers.
He hated that she had been right. Right about his stubbornness and pridefulness. Right that he hadn't thought about the attack earlier that day. He wasn't paying attention to anything in the distance. He was normally better than that; he let his guard down and it nearly cost him everything.
He snapped his fingers and he was fully dressed again. He moved back into his room and took a seat by the fireplace. He summoned himself a glass of whiskey but only ended up swirling it in the glass, lost in thought. His shadow caught his eye and he followed it as it took the seat across from him.
"I want not a word out of you." He gave it a hard glare. He sighed, putting his untouched whiskey on the table beside him. "Just keep an eye on her. She's been through a lot the past 24 hours, she surely doesn't need anymore trouble." His shadow zipped out of sight. "If only she was capable of such a thing", he muttered to himself.
Finally he was alone. He took a sip of his whiskey. Did he really think she was a close friend? She definitely knew more about him than anyone else, including Rosie. His ear twitched. He hadn't seen Rosie in awhile, perhaps tomorrow he would go visit her. He definitely didn't want to have to deal with Ellen. He took another sip. He had no doubt what had happened the night of the open house, Ellen had been very thorough about that night's events, not that she had a choice. He was impressed that she went out of her way to make him something with demon flesh in it. That was something even Husk wouldn't do for him.
And then there was her arm. It took him back to his time when he was alive, to some of his victims. They all had deserved their ends, but he avoided killing women when he could. And he never marked them, no he ended them quickly leaving no evidence of harm. He was above leaving marks on women, they were to be treated with respect, something his mother had instilled in him from an early age. Ellen's arm was something he was not proud of. He had not met anyone dumb enough to offer a weakened demon their blood. And for him to remark it was a 'delectable sample' meant he very easily could have ended her right there. So why didn't he?
Perhaps she was a close friend. She kept things to herself. She was loyal. He took another sip of whiskey. She was no longer afraid of him. When she first arrived it was easy to keep her away, but even now he didn't seem to have that effect on her anymore. She had seen him in his full demon form and the first thing she did was run up and deflect a bullet meant for him. Even the other hotel residents were still weary of him in that form, but she? He put his glass down. Even choking the life out of her, he saw no fear in her eyes. Perhaps he was getting soft. Or perhaps he underestimated her? She was smarter than she let on. Not to mention she was observant.
He sat in his thoughts for a while, time lost to him. Movement caught his gaze and he found his shadow waving to get his attention. Alastor only raised an eyebrow and his shadow told him everything. He rolled his eyes annoyed. "Great" he muttered under his breath as he slipped into the shadows.
Downstairs in the lobby he found Ellen and Angel Dust at the bar with Husker, their voices and laughter filling the otherwise empty lobby.
"Hey! Smiles you gonna join us?"
Ellen turned and she gave him a scowl, or at least the best she could manage being so drunk.
"I believe the night is late enough. Ellen my dear shall I help you to your room?"
"I'm not done."
Angel laughed, bringing his drink to his lips to cut it short after he shot him a glare.
"My dear I do believe you are quite done." He kept his tone level.
She turned back to the boys at the bar and whispered quite loudly. "Pour me another shot and one for him, maybe we can rope him in."
"I will not be indulging tonight, though I think you've had quite enough already."
She turned glaring at him again, a finger pointed in his direction. "I'm sorry, are you a bartender? No? Then you don't get to cut me off. I'm done when he says so." Her thumb pointed over her shoulder at Husker.
All he had to do was glare and Husk stopped pouring.
"You're cut off, sorry kiddo."
"Really?" She scoffed, giving Alastor a stank eye.
He only glared back, standing taller, arms behind his back.
"Alrighty then, not a problem." Ellen jumped off her stool and wobbled a bit before moving behind the bar. She grabbed a shot glass and started making herself a drink.
"Ellen that's enough."
"Oh please I've only had…" She stopped, counting on her fingers. "Four shots. No wait. Five."
He glared at her. "You need to rest to heal, my dear. You've had quite a full day."
She glared back at him. "You're a fine one to talk." She downed the shot she just finished pouring herself.
His eyes moved to watch the other two present. They kept their mouths shut. Eyes anywhere but on him. He didn't let anyone speak to him in such a manner, but he knew better than to threaten her with an audience. It would only cause more problems. She always caused problems.
She marched up to him and tried to intimidate him. Being almost two feet shorter and drunk she was unsuccessful. She waved him closer and he leaned down. She lowered her voice so the other two wouldn't hear.
"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do here. You're all caught up on the belief that you owe me, well you don't. If Rosie had done what I did…"
His eyes burned and he knew his antlers had started growing outward. "Don't you dare bring Rosie…"
"HEY! …If Rosie did what I did today, would she be hustling you about a favour? No." She squinted at him. "You say we're friends, great. Friends look after each other. Look it up. Do I want to be more than friends, maybe, but I'm probably too drunk to care about going into more detail. You know what, never mind that. You can just thank me for looking out for you, and we can be on our merry way. Yesh?"
He only glared. She was correct, but he wasn't going to say so and he sure wasn't going to thank her. She had made enough of a scene, he wasn't going to stay. "Very well. If you think you are fine making it to your room on your own then I will leave you to it. Clearly after today you've demonstrated you are more than capable of looking after yourself. Enjoy your evening." He turned away.
"I'd enjoy it more in your company."
He stiffened. She was no longer using her whispered voice. The two at the bar watched, drinks forgotten. His ears flattened, tail flicked in annoyance. "My dear, I believe it's time you went to bed."
She sighed heavily, finally caving. "Yeah fine." She turned to the bar, giving the others a wave and wishing them a good night. Alastor tried to link elbows with Ellen but she was far too gone for that, practically leaning against him to keep upright. He rolled his eyes. She was far too drunk to move through shadow, even if it was only a short distance, so they took the elevator. The entire time she just stared at him smiling, eyes barely able to focus. He looked away. Why did he bother coming down to get her?
They were halfway up when she hunched forward suddenly and hand clamped over her mouth.
He bit back a comment but summoned a bucket and thrust it into her hands. She should have known better. With the amount of blood she'd lost that past few days, even two shots of alcohol would have rendered her ossified. Six? Silly thing was as drunk as a skunk. With a snap of his fingers her hair was tied up just as she retched, her stomach contents filling the bucket. He should have just stayed in his room. When the door opened he waved the bucket away and slid an arm under hers. At this point he was pretty confident he was carrying most, if not all of her weight. Not a strain, but a simple annoyance.
They stopped by her door and she fumbled around looking for her key. He resisted another eye roll and slid into the shadows, opening the door from the inside. Her eyes widened when she looked up and saw him standing there with the door open.
"Man, that must be so useful when you lose your keys."
Once he had helped her in, he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. He did not want them getting dirty. He threw his jacket onto the back of one of the chairs and helped Ellen to the bathroom where she proceeded to upchuck again. She groaned.
"I'm sorry. You don't have to stay. I'll just-" she never finished the sentence, puking again.
By the time she was done, she looked a mess. He summoned a glass of water for her and a handkerchief.
"I'm sorry" she mumbled. "I'm such a mess."
He waved her off. "Nothing a shower and a good nights rest won't fix, my dear."
"No. I mean me. I'm a mess." She took a sip of water. "How come I always fall for the worst guys?"
He sputtered a laugh. "My dear, love is a waste of time and effort, you should focus on other, better things."
She tried her best to glare at him. "Oh come on, Alastor. You can't tell me you've never loved someone."
He took a seat on the floor beside her. "The only woman I've ever loved was my mother and that was a very long time ago." His smile softened at the thought of her. It had been awhile since he let her into his thoughts.
"So you don't think anyone could love you." Her tone was almost sad.
He turned to her confused. "I said nothing of the sorts."
Her voice softened. "You didn't have to." She took another sip of water before placing it on the floor rather harshly, spilling some. "You love your mom because she loved you unconditionally. It didn't matter who you wanted to be or what you did, she loved you. As a mother should, but now you don't think anyone could ever love you like she did, as you are now. So it's all a waste of time. Hokum. Who could ever love the horrific, evil killer Radio Demon who's ledger is longer than history itself?" She gave him a sideways glance as she took another sip of water. "Not too far off the mark, am I?"
He glared but remained silent, thinking. If she was truly this perceptive when drunk, he greatly underestimated her wit while sober. "Rosie would be best to answer your question. Romance is more her thing." He finally responded.
"Yeah, well, unless you can teleport me there, I'm confined to my tower." She gestured to the walls around her.
They sat in silence for a long time, he was about to suggest getting her into bed when she sighed. "I belong here don't I? In hell? That's why I'm here. And if I didn't before I certainly must now. I killed someone today and I'm not that upset about it. I should be, but I don't regret it. That makes me a bad person, right? A sinner? Even if it was self defense?"
Alastor sighed, the pieces finally coming together. Silly mortals getting caught up in morality. "So that's what tonight is about, hmm? A drink to forget kind of night. I must admit I expected better from you." He gave her a stern look.
"You feel no remorse for killing?"
He laughed. "Not at all, especially down here. It's kill or be killed. The ones I killed up there deserved it and the ones down here do too. All the others just spawn again after a few days. Well most of them anyway. Can't collect more souls if I go killing them all off now can I? Ah ha!"
Her eyes widened. "So I didn't actually kill that demon?"
"Not at all, my dear."
"Oh." She sat quite for a few minutes. "Well…" She took another sip of water wiping her nose with the handkerchief. "I suppose this evening wasn't a complete waste. Got some perspective I guess."
He raised an eyebrow in question.
Her face became red. "No way, you'll run off screaming if I open that can of worms."
His smile widened and he mocked interest in his nails. "I still have that third question."
"It's about feelings…"
"The whole subject is laughable my dear, not something I would run from."
"I'm serious Alastor, this is your only warning." She hiccuped.
He waved her off. She wanted to drunkenly ramble, he would sit and let her. Perhaps he could get her back for the night of the open house.
"I like you, Alastor. And while I'm trying to reason myself out of it, I can't."
He froze. Perhaps she was right. She seemed to be right about a lot of things lately, maybe he should start believing her. This was not a conversation he wanted to be a part of. Was that why she was asking about love earlier?
"I've spent years in relationships that I only stayed in because I was afraid of being alone. They were okay, some of them. But they all came to an end to the one thing I never liked. Sex."
Oh no, he was not going to stay and listen if this conversation was going where he thought it was going. He could feel the static buzz. He was about to disappear into the shadows.
"You don't like that stuff either so I guess it makes me feel like it could work. Feels safe knowing that would never have to be a problem." She looked at him with a small sad smile, and he just stared unsure of what to say. His tail flicked nervously. "I don't have to pretend I'm a delicate little flower. I can be as strong and independent as I want without having to worry about bruising some guy's ego. You're confident enough in yourself, you're strong and powerful, and I admire that. I admire you. And of course you are always the perfect gentleman." He looked away. He knew she was drunk, surely this was just silly rambling. "Yeah, and the side of reason keeps reminding me that you're a serial killer, overlord in hell who wouldn't give me the time of day if not for being at the hotel. But you've been open and been vulnerable with me and I can't help thinking that has to mean something.
"The night of the open house you showed me your tail, something I don't plan on ever forgetting by the way." Her smile widened at the thought. "Closing your wound despite all your stubbornness. Even today stopping that bullet, sure I would have done that for anyone, but I didn't think about it, I just did it 'cause it was you in danger. I don't want any favours or debts or deals, never have and never will or at least nothing big, cause I guess we technically have an agreement already." She looked down to her feet. "Even if you decide that I'm nothing more than a silly little girl wasting her time being absolutely smitten by you." She hugged her knees to her chest resting her head on them. "All I want is to be in your company and if that means we're nothing more than close friends, then what else can I do?" She was quiet for a moment.
She chuckled. "See? Told you, you wouldn't like it. Your face may not give you away but your ears and tail definitely have."
He grit his teeth glaring over his shoulder like he could intimidate his tail to stop twitching. "I think it is time to get you to bed."
Ellen pushed herself to her feet, arms out to help balance the wobble. Once she was standing she slowly made her way to the bed.
"I'll just sleep in my clothes, that way you don't have to worry about helping me get undressed." She flopped onto the bed kicking her shoes off.
"Yes, well I think I should be on my way out anyways. Good night, my dear." He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair.
"Sorry I wasted your evening."
"It wasn't a waste." And he slipped into the shadows surprised he had meant it.