AN: Apologies for the minor delay! This next week is going to be a mess for me and I've almost caught up to my writing so we'll see how this plays out, but I do intend on following my posting schedule! Anyways, enjoy this one everyone!
For the past week Ellen had noticed the change in the household. It wasn't something she could prove or really explain, but it felt…different. She had made a few off-handed mentions of it to her parents, but they didn't seem to feel it. Another mark for her being paranoid she guessed, but she knew she wasn't the only one to sense it.
Her cats seemed to be more on edge and even though she never really believed in most wives' tales or superstitions, she had a feeling they sensed something too. Some believed that cats can see spirits, ghosts or apparitions. Things that normal people couldn't see. Things beyond the realm of the living. Now she didn't necessarily think ghosts were real, despite spending some time as one. Death had made a comment about not liking doing it.
Maybe it was death keeping an eye on her? Add that to her paranoia list. An entity like him would definitely be a reason to spook the cats. It was only Truffles and Catcat that seemed to be grumbling and hissing more. Her parents chalked it up to her being nervous around the other cat, which was true. But every time she went to investigate, there was no one else around. She'd also caught them staring at closed doors and into dark corners. Add in the fact she felt like she was being watched, it was no wonder she felt off. Maybe she was reading into this too much.
She had enough on her plate to deal with. She definitely didn't need to add possible hauntings to the list. The sooner she could find this Dolion guy, the sooner she could get Xander back and the sooner she could get back to a somewhat normal life.
After almost two months of searching she had finally found something. It wasn't definitive but there was a research paper she had found that only once vaguely mentioned a company called 'Dolion Incorporated'. She couldn't find such a company, but she knew it was him. That was enough for her to start the real work. The research paper was about something to do with blood and mutation but it was much too advanced for her to really understand. It didn't matter, it gave her someone with a link to Dolion. A woman named Hilda Collins had written it and that's all she needed to get lost in hundreds of profiles of women with the same name. It wasn't a great lead, but it was something and something was better than nothing.
She hadn't realized her phone was going off until it vibrated itself off her desk. She glanced at it quickly to find Julies had been messaging her for the better half of an hour.
A silent curse slipped out as she quickly unlocked her phone. She was never really great at responding to texts, but if she didn't respond soon Julie would likely phone her and give her a good scolding. It's not like she could say she was 'busy' seeing as she couldn't work currently and it's not like she went out much on her own either.
J: youve been to quiet this week. Have u found somthin?
J: u know better then to ignore me
J: whatd u find?
J: i swear to god if you found this dandelion guy and already left to confront him on ur own ill be pissd
Ellen chuckled at the autocorrect mistake of Dolion's name. Dandelion, she'd have to remember that. Maybe that's what they could call this little secret mission.
E: I didn't find him per say, but I may have a lead. Sorry for the delay.
J:what kinda lead
E: Someone that may know him
J: …
J: thats it?
Ellen rolled her eyes and simple hit dial, deciding the texting back and forth was too much for this kind of conversation. Julie picked up on the second ring and before she could even utter a greeting she heard Julie first.
"You don't own the road fuck head! Learn how to drive! I fuckin hate people!"
It seemed Julie was on her way home from work. This was going to be fun.
"Just as long as you don't hate me."
Julie chuckled. "Nah girl your fine, its all these other waffle irons that don't know how to FUCKIN DRIVE!" There was a small pause before she continued remarkably calm. "So you found a lead?"
Ellen leaned back in her chair a grin on her face, knowing this conversation was going to be randomly punctuated with screams and curses and it was going to be a hoot and a half.
"Some woman wrote a research paper and it mentions a company named 'Dolion Incorporated'. Now I can't find anything about the company, but that seems to be on brand with this guy. Non-existent."
"So you're looking for this lady."
"Easier said than done, but yeah."
"Oh god, is it like Ashley Brown or Molly Smith? Something really- just run the red, why don't you? Fuck! Sorry, something stupidly common?"
"Basically."
There was a sudden beeping and Ellen looked to find someone else was calling her. Her stomach sank looking at the collar ID. Why was he trying to reach her now? How long has it been?
"Tristan is calling me."
"DON'T you dare answer that. I thought you blocked that asshole."
"I mean-"
"No, stop, you haven't seen him in what like a year? You are not dating anymore."
"We didn't really break up."
"He's not going to do it, and we both know you ain't got the balls to do it either so just leave it."
"He called for a reason-"
"Yeah he probably found out you ain't dead anymore and wants his fuck buddy back. It's GREEN that means GO! Jesus fuck people y'all need help."
"But-"
"No buts, don't do it Ellen, trust me, leave this alone. It's not worth it, HE'S not worth it."
"Okay."
"Now I HAVE to tell you about this customer that came in today, god he was stupid…"
Ellen let Julie vent about her day at work, but she was only half listening, her mind still stuck on Tristan. What did he want? He was reaching out for a reason, maybe it was important. She noticed he didn't leave a voicemail, so maybe it wasn't important? Her stomach started knotting. He was definitely not a great guy so why was she now all of a sudden interested in what he had to say? Julie was probably right, it wasn't going to be anything good and she was still waiting for Alastor to turn up. She had moved on, didn't even think about him while in Hell, but now? Maybe she needed closure?
…
Ellen heard her long before she made it to her room. Julie wasted no time only wishing her parents a quick greeting before sprinting up the stairs and barging through her door taking a quick scan of her room.
"Jesus Ellen, when's the last time you left your room?"
She sighed, closing her laptop, having no luck in getting any closer to finding Tucker or Hilda today. If she was honest with herself she may have spent the day just mindlessly surfing the web, unable to stay focused on the task. It had been so long searching with no results, it was hard to keep motivated with no success. That and the weird vibe in the house.
"Hey Julie."
"How long have you been in that onesie?"
Ellen looked down at her calico cat onesie, her face heating a bit. She knew she couldn't lie especially to Julie so she stayed quiet. She didn't really have a need to leave the house, so changing and showering may have been stretched out longer than they should have.
Julie rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's go."
"What? Go where?"
"You've been in that for at least three days. So tonight we're getting dressed up extra nice and going out, and if the evening goes well we'll both be too drunk to care about anything else for the night."
Ellen started shaking her head. "No way. I don't need one of those nights Julie."
Her arm was grabbed and she was pulled to her feet and dragged from her room and down the hall.
"I'm your best friend Ellen and today you're stuck with me. Now go shower so I can do your hair and makeup." She chuckled. "We're going all out tonight. Girls night."
Ellen gave her friend a disapproving look but did as she instructed. She knew better than to argue. Julie wasn't afraid to stoop down to low levels and she already knew Julie would simply get her parents in on it. She let out a sigh as she turned into the bathroom, she was going out tonight whether she liked it or not.
She wouldn't admit it yet, but she was grateful Julie had stopped by to check in on her. She really needed a shower and the burst of warm water was heavenly. She connected to her wireless, waterproof speaker and threw on an old playlist from her phone to have something to sing to and she grinned when 'Your stupid face' by Kaden MacKay started. It had been a long time since she had listened to it.
As she sang along she couldn't help letting the music take her, being careful not to slip. When was the last time she had listened to this? She wracked her brain taking a bit of time searching her memories before it popped up. Ah yes, it was back in Hell up on the roof. She grin widened as the memory came back. She had been dancing with Alastor's shadow, moving across the whole roof, a performance to no one but…
She couldn't help but smile as the shadow in front of her moved with her, almost like it could read her thoughts, moving with the music. The words felt fitting and even though she had been spending the whole day avoiding a certain demon, she couldn't help but let him cloud her thoughts as sang to his shadow. She had already drunkenly confessed that she liked him, so the lyrics seemed fitting. She did indeed love his stupid face. No matter what he did, she'd forgive him. Like an idiot. And the scary part, she was okay with that.
It wasn't until the song ended that she found him standing there, almost out of sight in the shadows. 'Speak of the devil and he doth appear'. Seemed a bit too close to home.
Instantly her face fell, cheeks heating at being caught in such a vulnerable state. How long had he been standing there? She had to hold back a part of her that wanted to just waltz over like nothing had happened. Instead she brought up an annoyed expression.
"Unbelievable," she muttered.
How the heck did he know to find her here? She pushed the question aside, moving to grab her belongings quickly knowing she needed to escape his stupid face.
"I didn't know you could perform. It was quite a lovely spectacle. I might even say I was impressed."
Every muscle wanted to freeze, but she forced herself to move faster. He sounded so sincere, so honest, so…
"Holy shit! My first performance."
The sounds of soft chitters pulled her back to her shower, the water nowhere near hot enough to blame for the heat in her cheeks. Alastor was correct, she was feeling quite foolish it had taken her so long to figure it out.
"Hey, you good in there?"
Her head turned toward the door. She cleared her throat before calling back to her friend, "Yeah all good, almost done!"
She had barely started but she could shower in ten minutes if she needed to. She blinked a few times trying to refocus her thoughts. She listened as the song finished giving her a few moments of silence before the next one started up.
The rest of her shower seemed slow but eventually the music managed to work her back into a good mood, the memories still fresh in her mind but not clouding it. It was likely she'd have more of these as time went on and she needed to be okay with them.
She toweled herself off, taking a look at her reflection in the mirror.
"No more Alastor talk," she scolded herself with a hard glare. "You're driving yourself insane."
…
She never understood why some took hours everyday to do hair and makeup, but she kept her mouth shut as Julie went to work. It was a skill, an art form she had never cared for. Not to say she couldn't admire the effort and work needed to get all dolled up. Many girls, and some guys, made it look so easy and some of the stuff they could do was close to witchcraft.
Ellen sat on the floor while Julie started on her hair. It seemed she was going for a shorter look, which was fine for Ellen. She lucked out on the genetic gene pool, her face shape one that allowed her to have her hair in any way. Long or short still looked good, glasses or no, still looked good. Hats or no still looked good, though she didn't like hats much, mostly because she had a small head. She had better luck with youth headwear than adults.
"I can't believe you kept that thing." Julie shook her head, gesturing to the old fashioned looking radio on her desk. It was one of the radios they had collected to 'offer' Alastor during their attempts at summoning him. It looked far too nice to just throw out, plus it actually worked!
It wasn't actually from the twenties, she had done some online searching and found it was likely made in the eighties, but it still looked nice. A 1932 replica wooden GM Cathedral radio. It seemed a bit silly to hold on to it because it reminded her of Alastor and she was currently trying to push him from her thoughts, but she could help it. A glutton for torture she guessed.
"It's a really nice piece," she defended.
"It's ancient."
Ellen stuck her tongue out at her then reached up to flick it on. She carefully tuned it to a station that played classical music.
Julie rolled her eyes. "God when did you get so old?"
Ellen mocked the hurt, turning to give her friend a look. "You are older than I am, might I remind you," she retorted.
Julie took a hand to turn her head away, before returning to her hair with a small laugh.
"Yeah, so respect your elders, little missy."
The two broke down into giggles before they sat idly chatting and catching up. Julie always had that ability, to make her feel at ease.
After both hair and make-up was done, (a task made a bit more difficult with cats that tried knocking pallets, hair-ties and brushes off the desk) they were ready for the final part of their prep.
"Now the fun part. The clothes," Julie squealed.
Ellen rolled her eyes, but the smirk on her lips was a sign it wasn't meant to be in annoyance. "Go ahead and raid my closet."
"Oh no, none of your stuff will work. I hope you don't mind, I went out and got you something. It took a while to find but it'll be perfect for tonight."
Ellen's stomach dropped thinking the worst. "Julie…"
She waved her hand dismissing the concern in her voice. "Oh relax, the bar we're going to has an event tonight so I thought we could dress up for it."
That didn't ease any worry. She and Julie had a different taste in style and sometimes Ellen envied that, but dressing up to go out with a theme meant she wasn't going to be in something she would be comfortable in. She plastered an unsure smile on her face as Julie pulled a large paper bag out from beside her bed. Julie must have grabbed it while she was in the shower because she didn't remember seeing it before.
"So," Julie started as she reached into the bag pulling out multiple things in either white/ silver or gold and black. "I have noticed your taste in music has changed a bit since you got back so I thought you might enjoy a night at a speakeasy."
"Noooo." Ellen shook her head, her stomach sinking. That hit a bit too close to home. A bit too close to Alastor. To be in a bar where all the guys were going to be dressed from that era? The music, the sights, the atmosphere, everything was just going to remind her of him. She was having a hard enough time trying to focus on her day to day life without having to wonder when or if their plan had worked and he would find them on this plane.
"You're not getting out of this that easy. I already made reservations. Now," She held up a black dress with gold beading patterned along the full length of it, the ends a fringe around mid knee length.
Ellen couldn't argue, it looked stunning. She carefully grabbed it from her looking at the detailed work. This wasn't something from a Halloween store, this was crafted with care. A small amused smile finally pulled across her face. Oh if only Alastor could see her dressed up like this. He'd probably have a hard time keeping his eyes off her.
It seemed they were going for a flapper theme. It seemed a bit foolish for her to get dressed up, her body shape nowhere near the look for that era, not that it mattered too much, but she liked trying to go for authenticity. It finally clicked why her hair had been done the way it was, carefully styled to look short, a head band to help keep it up and in place, like that era. She should have clued in sooner.
Julie must have done a whole bunch of research to get the right look for both hair and style. As much as she was uneasy about the whole thing she couldn't help but feel appreciative. Julie really put in a lot of work for this evening.
"And here I thought you had my hair up so you wouldn't have to hold it later tonight."
Julie turned, giving her a playful look. "I thought you didn't want to get that drunk tonight?"
Ellen laughed, pulling the dress on. "You and I both know if I'm drinking with you, I'll end the night praying to the porcelain gods."
She shrugged. "I'll go slow."
"You always say that."
Julie tossed her a pair of kitten heels that looked like dance shoes, (if they were, they would be much more comfortable for a night in them.) long black gloves and a strand of pearls.
Once fully outfitted Ellen gave her friend an appreciative smile. "I don't know what to say. This is… thank you Julie."
Julie wrapped an arm around her with a big grin. "I'll take the gratitude now considering tomorrow you'll be hungover AF. I plan on getting you shitfaced girl. Ya need it."
"I don't need-"
"-Shitfaced."
When the two girls were ready they made their way out the front door but didn't make it down the driveway before Ellen's mom insisted they get pictures taken since they had spent hours getting ready. Who was she to deny her mother? Once her mom was satisfied, Julie had a taxi called up and they were on their way into the heart of the city.
"You are going to be okay with this right?"
Ellen let out a small huff. "A bit late for that now Julie."
"It's not." She gave her friend a look before continuing, leaning back into her seat. "Look I know you're still kinda adjusting, and we have no idea when he's going to make an appearance, but you can't sit in a standstill waiting. What if it takes a few months? You going to torture yourself everyday until then?"
Ellen knew it was a rhetorical question but she answered anyway. "No."
"Right, so I figured maybe tossing you in the deep end will help shake the nerves out. I know exactly why you don't want to do this. It's kinda why I'm insisting. Don't worry, I'll mother-hen the hell out of you. Rest assured nothing is going to dampen the mood tonight. No guys. Just us, a shit ton of shots and dancing. Promise."
She gave Ellen a sympathetic smile.
"Okay."
"It'll be fun." She brightened her tone.
Ellen tried to hide her smile behind a pout but couldn't manage it. "Guys can be fun."
Julie chuckled. "Attagirl! I'll follow your lead. Whatever you need tonight girl. You know I make one hell of a wingman. Who knows maybe you just need a good fuck."
"JULIE!"
She shrugged. "You never know. But I suppose a night out to get loose and have fun will be more your speed."
"I don't exactly need a wingman, I need to…" She needed to stop thinking that every guy she passed was possibly Alastor. It wasn't healthy, and definitely made her look like a bit of a psycho. It would have been so much easier if she had asked what he looked like while he was human. She had nothing to go off of, only educated guesses. Likely dressed well, hair short and probably tall. That didn't narrow down prospects much if at all.
She let out a small sigh. No Alastor thoughts tonight. It would definitely make the night easier, as long as she followed her own rule.
Julie gave her a side hug as the cab slowly came to a stop, pulling off to the side and park.
…
Ellen smiled as she took in the decor of the bar. There were little fairy lights placed above most of the tables and along the top of the bar. The lights were dimmed and it looked like they had created a small stage. It looked pretty awesome, even the staff was dressed up to the event. The bar tenders, funny enough, dressed similar to how Husker did, dark slacks and dress shirts with white suspenders. Some even wore hats, flat caps and fedoras. Tonight was going to be good. She could feel it.
The two slid into a booth smiling as they let their gaze wander the place. She really had to hand it to Julie, this was above and beyond what she was expecting.
"Pretty swanky, eh?"
Ellen laughed. "Swanky isn't the word I'd use but yeah it's pretty cool."
Julie's face twisted in confusion. "Isn't swanky a term from that era?"
Ellen's cheeks heated a bit. Julie must have noticed she had been doing some research in 1920's slang in hopes of being able to better understand some of the stuff Alastor said. That and she was hoping to maybe surprise him when he did eventually show up.
""Swanky" would imply fancy, ritzy. Not that this place isn't nice but I think that's a stretch."
Julie stuck her tongue out at her before turning to flag down a server.
"Two blow jobs, two polar bears and four pornstars."
Ellen's eyes widened. "Jesus Julie, you said you were going slow."
She shrugged with a smirk. "They're not all for me."
It wasn't long before their table had a collection of shot glasses, the two laughing at past embarrassing stories. Ellen hadn't even noticed, but she wasn't looking around at the others at the bar. She had let Julie take her attention and Alastor never once crossed her mind. Julie was right, she needed a night out to just decompress and let loose.
AN: I think you all know where this is going... Hope it gets you all excited for the next chapter! (If you'd like to re-read that little shower memory, it is the end of Chapter 12. Just thought it'd be fun to write it in Ellen's POV.)