Chapter 4: A Tenebrous Samhain
Eleanor enjoyed living with Penny. Granted, the two of them held very different interests. Penny was much more social, and Eleanor preferred to have time to herself. Still, they complemented each other well. Penny was much better at bargaining for items at the local secondhand stores that they visited to find things that Eleanor could repair and resell. It probably helped that Penny was perfectly willing to show off her assets while Eleanor usually dressed to avoid getting attention (or rather as much attention, she was still a woman with a significant figure, so she'd get some regardless).
Eleanor usually cooked for both of them when they didn't join the guys across the hall for dinner. Even when they did, Eleanor usually made it a point to cook biscuits or another dessert to bring over to supplement the takeout that they usually provided. She had fun trying to match the desserts to the actual meal. So far, she had made churros, sopapillas, tiramisu, and cannoli for their joint dinners. Thai cuisine had been a bit tricker to do as many of its deserts used coconut. Still, she was confident that her Coconut Custard would be good for next time (whether the guys and Penny liked coconut was an entirely different matter.) If it didn't go over well, she'd try Crispy Rice cakes next.
She was currently cooking an assortment of Halloween themed cookies for Penny's party. As soon as the cookies were done, she was going to duck out. Halloween was the last day she wanted to celebrate. She'd dressed up as a gender-swapped Hades from that Disney movie. Being a metamorph made it exceptionally easy to mimic the blue flame hair, the gray skin tone and the yellow eyes. She'd been tempted to adjust her facial structure to mimic the character's sharper jawline and long rounded chin but decided against it just like she kept her teeth the same instead of making them pointed. The rest had an easy non-magical explanation, bald cap and hologram for the hair, face paint for the skin and specialty yellow contacts for the eyes. The teeth might be easy to explain away but the change in her facial structure wouldn't be. So, she avoided it.
She was probably going to go up to the roof and gaze out at the stars once the cookies were done. Maybe she'd sing for a bit. Penny had been making sure she was exposed to the holiday classics: Ghostbusters, This is Halloween, Kidnap the Sandy Claus, Oogie Boogie's song, and the Addams Family Intro among others. Hopefully this Halloween would be the second that wouldn't have a catastrophe associated with it. Actually, it probably would. She just hoped it was something minor like Penny's ex-boyfriend showing up. In any case, she had cast a few spells to intentionally keep people away from her room. She'd also packed up her trunk and tent. Both items were disguised as small skull earrings.
A series of three knocks interrupted her thoughts, "Penny or Eleanor."
Knock, Knock, Knock, "Penny or Eleanor."
Knock, Knock, Knock, "Penny or Eleanor."
Huh, she hadn't expected Sheldon to have that sort of quirk. Granted, this might be the first time he's knocked on their door. Usually, it was the other way around. She glided over to the door and opened it. Her lips twitched into a smile as she saw Leonard, Raj and Howard's dumbfounded expressions at her costume. Sheldon was looking at her appreciatively, not so much noticing her physical assets (which were a bit more on display than normal thanks to how the toga and undershirt clung to her) but at the accuracy of her costume.
"Well, who do we have here," she drawled, giving her voice a tint of dark amusement, "Oh dear, does your father know where you've wandered off to Odinson?"
She directed that to Raj who was definitely a version of Thor based on the armor, blonde wig and hammer. As usual, he kept quiet as for some reason he couldn't talk around women.
"Ah, I see the gravity of the situation has left you speechless. Well, it should not be said that Lord Hades is not a good host. Come on in and have a seat, Odinson. Mind the Well of Souls though, even one who has wrestled old age may not come out of the well intact. Your companions will be along momentarily."
She allowed Raj in and saw him go meekly sit on the couch. Penny had come out of her room and was looking at the scene in front of her with amusement in her eyes. She was having a hard time restraining her laughter at Raj's meek behavior and the expressions on the others' faces as Eleanor completely derailed the planned interaction.
"You," Eleanor said, turning to Leonard whose pointy ears, and green cloak over a dark brown vest, a light brown waistcoat and white dress shirt made him look like a hobbit, "Are in the wrong afterlife. You're supposed to go to the Halls of Manos, not the Underworld. Ah well. Nothing for it now. Come on in and I'll send you along later this evening after the paperwork gets taken care of. Well unless you fall into the Well of Souls. If that happens, I'll just have to send Manos my apologies."
That left two of them at the door. She debated which to address next as she truly had no clue what Sheldon was with the white shirt with black lines that were bunched together tightly near his middle and more spread out along the sides. Howard was sending her mixed signals as his costume looked remarkably like Peter Pan from the Disney movie of the same name, but he had a bow and arrow.
"Hmmm. I guess I need to talk to Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos and see which threads they cut recently. You two are quite the puzzle."
"I am Robin Hood, oh beautiful one," replied Howard, "Master archer extraordinaire and capable of shooting any target with my trusty arrows."
"I'd suggest keeping your arrows in your quiver while visiting my domain. I am not Maid Marian and not interested in seeing your trick shots. I suppose you can come in."
She turned to look at Sheldon.
"Lord Hades, I'm the Doppler Effect."
"The Doppler Effect," she asked, honestly confused.
"I am the personification of the effect where light or sound increases or decreases in frequency depending on how close that sound or light source is to the being who observes it. Mortals would hear my effect as an ambulance or other emergency vehicle passes them by."
"Ah…I see my brother's wife, she of the peacocks, is up to her usual tricks. Well, at least your curse is more interesting than poor Echo. Come on in Doppler."
Eleanor stood aside and allowed Sheldon to pass. Then she shut the door.
"I am so glad you have no interest in acting, Eleanor," remarked Penny, "I'd never get a role if I had to go against you. That was amazing and you've only seen that movie once."
Raj whispered into Howard's ear, "Half of that wasn't even in the movie but she stayed in character."
"That was a marvelous performance, Lady Eleanor," replied Howard with what he thought was a seductive smile, "I had no idea you were that versed in mythology."
"It was an interest of mine," she admitted, "And I enjoyed getting to portray a version of Lord Hades. That'll probably be my only performance for this evening though, I intend to duck out after the last of the biscuits are done."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay," asked Penny, "The guys would get a kick out of your costume and I'm sure they'd like to thank you for the cookies in person."
Eleanor shook her head as she moved over to the stove and pulled out the last of the biscuits.
"I…just don't do Halloween. Sorry Penny. This," she said gesturing to her costume, "was an attempt to keep my mind off things. Plus, if I came back early, I didn't want to deal with questions on why I wasn't in costume. Sheldon, would you mind if I popped over to your apartment and borrowed your tea kettle and your living room window."
"The window," he asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"I noticed a fire escape right outside it and I'd like to see if it goes up to the roof."
"I suppose you can," he granted, "As long as you don't mess with anything else."
Eleanor nodded, "Thanks Sheldon."
She went into her room and grabbed a small bag with a few items in it. Then she went back to the kitchen, put a few biscuits into a Tupperware and stored it in her bag. Then she nodded farewell and left.
She entered Sheldon and Leonard's apartment using an unlocking charm but mimicking a key. Then she locked the door behind her. She went over to the kitchen and made a pot of tea which she transferred to a thermos for travel. After making sure that the stove was off, she went over to the window and opened it. She ducked out of the room, through the window and then closed it behind her. Then she went up to the roof. Once there, she took a towel out of her bag and laid it on the roof. Then she sat down on it.
She took out the thermos and the Tupperware of biscuits. She sat there and looked at the stars for a while, sipping the tea and nibbling on the biscuits. When she reached the last biscuit, she cast a wandless Incendio at a part of the roof and tossed the biscuit into it.
"For your forbearance this evening, Lord Hades."
Curiously, the fire turned the same shade of blue as her fake hair as the biscuit was consumed. Then it vanished. Before she could think about that, she felt an attack on her magic. It felt like her entire body was on fire. She felt part of her magic being taken from her. Then she felt an oppressive wave of magic hit her.
Gods damn it. Her usual Halloween luck had come back with a vengeance. Of course, the damned disownment and the Black Family Magic's judgment had hit at the same time. She didn't know the details of either ritual, but she doubted that they were supposed to happen simultaneously. Her magic was being broken and reconfigured…which was fucking dangerous considering she needed her magic to keep both the werewolf curse and the basilisk venom in check. With her luck, phoenix tears were also probably lethal to non-magicals.
She maintained enough presence of mind to cast a silencing charm on herself. Then she screamed. This…this was far worse than Voldemort's Cruciatus curse. If it wasn't for the fact that the basilisk venom was still in play, she might say it was worse than getting bitten by the damned snake. As it was, it felt like the phoenix tears weren't working and every single blood vessel was being bathed in battery acid. Eventually, she passed out.
[Scene Change]
In the Underworld, the actual Hades was not amused. Not many people spoke his name outside of certain circles and most of the people within those circles usually cursed his name. The curses were because the Underworld played host to various monsters when they hadn't left to go wreak havoc elsewhere. As a result of that and some rather infamous demigod children, most of the time his name was spoken with a derision bordering on hatred.
The Disney movie, despite how horrible it was in many aspects, was something of a small boon as far as his own reputation went. Well…at least it gave him a sense of humor. The rest of it…well it was clearly Olympian propaganda that pandered to Zeus while taking care not to offend Hera (though knowing his sister she was still likely offended). So, when he had heard his name from someone who was dressed up as the character Hades for Halloween, he had directed his attention toward the mortal.
He was surprised to find that the mortal in question was a female magical. He was even more surprised to find that she knew her mythology well and respected his actual work ruling the Underworld. She had briefly considered going as his wife Persephone, but had discarded it because she had no idea what Persephone looked like and didn't want to offend both him and her by getting the portrayal wrong. So, she'd gone with an accepted version of him and done her best to lean into the character.
He had been amused to see her greet the other mortals with varying degrees of snark. He was honestly confused as to why anyone would decide to dress up as a physics concept, but she did a good job responding to it while avoiding Hera's name. He had been disappointed when she ducked out of the party before it could even begin. He had a feeling that watching her interact with the other mortals would have been interesting.
He was once again surprised when she offered him the last of her cookies and thanked him for his patience with her antics. She hadn't seemed to be the type to truly believe in the Gods. Still, he had accepted the offering and peeked into her mind. What he found had him surprised even more as she wasn't the type to offer any form of lip service to any god or goddess. Before he could fully think through what he glimpsed within her mind, she had been struck down by some sort of Magic.
He watched unable to intervene as the ritual that removed a large part of her Magic was inflicted on her. At the same time Hades saw another obscure magical ritual hit her. Someone had either called for judgment or provoked the Family Magics into making a judgment. She could probably survive one of the magic impacting rituals. However, surviving both at once was unlikely. They destabilized her Magic too much and removed the protection it was providing her against the basilisk venom and werewolf curse. As a result, every single blood vessel was suffering from the effects of undiluted basilisk venom. Simultaneously, her body underwent several werewolf transformations, one after the other without the time needed for her body to fully heal afterwards. She was going to die horribly.
That…that wouldn't do. He liked this mortal. Apart from his own demigod children, she was the only one he did like. He thought for a bit before an evil smile came to his face. He knew how to intervene and how to do so in a way that none of his brothers could complain (not that it would stop them). It was generally accepted that the Gods were still allowed to punish mortals within reason (no sinking islands or anything like that anymore). That she had decided to dress up as him would be all the 'justification' he needed if this decision was ever questioned. Considering this mortal would wind up in Elysium, he would punish her by making her live and thus delaying her entry into paradise. If she happened to gain several long-term benefits from how he chose to punish her, well those benefits would simply be unexpected, unforeseen consequences. He wasn't the god of prophecy after all. So, if called to task, he would just shrug his shoulders, say oops and enjoy the look of frustrated anger on his little brother's face.
Now in the face of the transformations and basilisk venom that was tearing her apart, there was only one guaranteed solution: blood adoption. That should provide the stabilizing agent that Eleanor's magic needed to reconfigure itself. It was also the only thing that was guaranteed to be stronger than the phoenix tears, basilisk venom and lycanthropy.
He was surprised when Persephone handed him a potion with a nod of approval. He added his own blood to the mixture. Then he called for Alecto and ordered her to pour the potion down the girl's throat. Loyal as ever, Alecto left without question. Then he summoned the Goblin King from Gringotts so he could make some arrangements for his and Persephone's new daughter.
"You summoned me, Lord Pluton," asked the Goblin (Ragnar V if he remembered correctly).
"Yes. Persephone and I are blood adopting a mortal woman. I want her to have access to a family vault so that she doesn't need to continue working at her current mortal job. Working as a cook at the Cheesecake Factory is beneath her."
"It isn't a very profitable job," admitted Ragnar, "May I ask which mortal woman you are blood adopting? If she is magical, I will need to gather up the files for her existing accounts and go through them to ensure there are no irregularities."
"Her current name is Eleanor Black."
"You're familiar with that name," asked Persephone, who had noticed the goblin's eyes widen slightly.
"I am familiar with her, Lady Pluton. Eleanor Black is the non-magical identity of one of our most important magical clients."
"Really," asked Persephone.
"Yes, Lady Pluton. Between her conquest of Slytherin's basilisk in single combat when she was but a child and her cunning use of the Black Family's funds, she is well regarded by myself and my subjects. What name would you like her new vault to be under? Unlike most of our clients, she heeded our advice about Magic preferring that the titles be treated as separate and created separate identities for each title she knew she was going to keep."
"The names," asked Hades.
"Harleen Gryffindor, Hemlock Hufflepuff, Circe Slytherin and Hydra Gaunt, my Lord. Eleanor is the shared middle name."
Persephone raised an eyebrow, "Circe Slytherin and Hydra Gaunt?"
"She won both lines through the Right of Conquest over one Tom Marvolo Riddle, the self-styled Lord Voldemort. As for the first names, I believe she chose them to honor her ancestor Hydra Circe Black whose weapon she wields along Gryffindor's sword and Hufflepuff's shield."
Hades and Persephone shared a look. That woman was known to both of them. However, she was only known by one of her names and both had forgotten that she was a Black.
"I think we should keep Eleanor as the first name, Hades. It gives us more flexibility with determining her middle name."
"Anastasia," asked Hades.
Persephone grimaced, "I haven't liked that name since the 1910s. The poor girl already has people hunting her. We don't need to add to that by giving her a jinxed name. Remember Gregori Rasputin?"
Hades grimaced. That sorcerer was problematic in more ways than one.
"How about Morana instead? She would love to have a goddaughter to spoil."
"True," Hades admitted, "There aren't any rules preventing her from doing so either. Now can the other gods see the last names on the vaults?"
"No, my lord," replied Ragnar, "Gringotts prides itself on our confidentiality even against those who pursue knowledge relentlessly."
"Then her name shall be Eleanor Morana Pluton."
A lessening of the shadows nearby caught the attention of all three beings.
"Please tell me that wasn't your pet vampire, husband," begged Persephone with a dangerous tone to her voice.
"I think that was."
"If his appetite makes it impossible for our daughter to have a normal life, I am going to lock him in an iron maiden after I coat all the spikes with garlic and I'm going to throw the entire contraption in the biggest vat of holy water I can find."
Hades was not the least bit inclined to stop Persephone from carrying out her threat. In fact, he'd probably add on to that punishment by having the words of that horrible fiction series with the sparkling vampires appear within the iron maiden where vampire had no choice but to read it while he was impaled in place.
[Scene Change]
Eleanor woke up to liquid being poured down her throat and two sharp pains in the neck that preceded a hell of a lot more pain. Her eyes popped open as she felt…well this just might be worse than the basilisk venom, the disownment ritual and the Black family judgment. It felt like her entire being was being remade. The wolf in her was not happy but had been smacked down by the magic of the two things currently being inflicted on her. She couldn't see clearly at the moment, or something was obstructing her vision and neither of those was a good thing. Her forehead suddenly split open, and she felt something foul leave it.
"I…I need an adult," she found herself gasping (and then instantly wondering why she had said that).
"I am an adult, Wolf Girl," drawled an amused voice.
There was a loud harumph from a woman at that line, "Just as well I have more annoying prey to drag back down to Tartarus, Tepes. That reference was forced."
"Well Fury Girl, I am the Impaler. Of course, some of my humor is going to be forced."
"Some," asked the woman, her disbelief evident, "As for you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, you and the rest of your soul pieces are going straight to Tartarus."
Despite all the pain she was feeling, Eleanor also felt a wave of disgust come over her. She had had that in her head. Ugh…that was worse than the basilisk venom. She barely paid attention to the blood being poured down her throat which she instinctively gulped. She felt a new wave of pain wash over her as her body reconfigured itself again. Eventually it stopped and she was able to see things normally. Her Magic was also back, stronger than it had ever been and she was able to easily morph herself back into her 'Halloween form' (which she had apparently morphed out of while thrashing about in pain on the roof).
She sat up and saw a pale man wearing a red trench coat and a wide brimmed hat looking at her with interest. Huh, her vision was fully back, and her clothes were tight on her again so the rest of her body must have readjusted. She noticed a woman in a tight red dress that would have covered only one of her boobs if not for the black undershirt. She was over to one side holding a wraith suspended in mid-air.
"Not that I'm not grateful that the thing is out of my head, but what the fuck just happened," asked Eleanor.
"They really should have sent Megara," muttered the woman who Eleanor just noticed had a singular wing coming out of her back, "I kill things. I don't explain them. I need to go hunt down the rest of this bastard. Do I have your permission to do so?"
"Yes, you may act as my hand in this matter," replied Eleanor remembering the prophecy, "You and any others you wish to join you on your hunt."
"Then I am off, your majesty," replied the woman, inclining her head, "Tepes, you explain."
Eleanor's eyes widened as she realized that the man looking at her was Count Dracula. The Vampire. Despite that she wasn't in the mood to be reverent. She also realized that if the vampire was going to kill her, he'd have already done so.
"So other than giving me a pain in the neck, what the fuck happened, Count?"
"Well Wolf Girl, you now have a proper family in low places and a standing invitation to join me in my coffin when you get bored of playing around with the mortals. Your life won't change much as Stoker's work was deliberate misinformation on my part. Blood would be a good addition to your diet, but I'm sure a clever girl like you can figure out ways to acquire it without imitating Jack the Ripper."
"Just to be clear, I won't spontaneously combust in sunlight, I don't need an invitation to enter a building, and I won't have an impulsive need to count things?"
He nodded, "Garlic isn't a problem. Silver is but it already was for you, Wolf Girl. I'd suggest finding someone to drain sooner than later as fledglings are weaker than blooded vampires."
"What family," she asked pointedly.
"The goblins will likely be explaining that," he replied dismissively, "Any questions about vampires, Wolf Girl?"
"What happens if you completely drain a person's blood?"
"They generally turn into a ghoul if they're not a virgin, Wolf Girl. Certain conditions will enable the rule to be bypassed. If the vampire in question is strong enough, you can force the transformation into a fledgling rather than a ghoul. I generally don't recommend it as it takes up a lot of your own energy."
"Any transportation methods I should be aware of?"
"Shadow walking and mirrors. Shadow Walking will enable you to go directly to places and mirrors will take you through one of my old castles first."
"Anyone I shouldn't drink blood from?"
"Werewolves are a bit spicy, and they always fight. Beyond that priests are uncomfortable to digest if you catch them on holy ground when they haven't desecrated the place."
"Anything else?"
"Have fun if you run into any Belmonts and avoid New York. If you decide to pop back to England for a bite, do me a favor and dispose of the corpse intelligently. Boss Girl hates random vampires and ghouls appearing. Ciao Wolf Girl."
He vanished a moment later leaving Eleanor to her thoughts. A moment after that she left too deciding, yes, a bite to eat from England did sound good.
AN: It's Halloween, Potter luck was going to come into play. Like most instances, this will have long-term complications. From a lore standpoint, I needed a reason why Los Angeles wouldn't be a magical center in the United States. I also needed a reason for why magically it would be a good place for her to hide beyond it's got millions of people in it. I couldn't think of a better reason than borrowing Rick Riordan's Underworld placement.
While I'll be borrowing some elements from the Percy Jackson series to flesh out the world a bit, I won't involve Eleanor in the actual story line of those books. For one, I don't think it's a good fit in a story that's primary a Big Bang Theory Crossover. For another, I have other shenanigans that I plan to involve Eleanor in, ones that will actually tie into the guys' hobbies.