(no subject)

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Date: June 20, 2000
Setting: Lobby, Bar
Status: Semi-private (Ellie, Beelzebub, Belial)
Summary: One of Ellie's worst fears is realized, but help is at hand.



It was, of course, inevitable. There were so many high-powered, high-profile beings present or arriving or leaving the Manor at any given time; and while this meant that Ellie, with her null aura from any other demon's point of view, could easily be overlooked and passed by...it also meant that sooner or later, one of Hell's agents (apart from the incompetent Ligur) would see and recognize her for what she was. The only questions were who, and when.

Just her luck, she later reflected, that it would have to be the slimiest sycophantic freak Hell's upper eschelons had to offer.

She certainly wasn't looking for trouble on that particular day. Her mind was somewhere else entirely as she descended the western staircase and started across the lobby toward the restaurant. Several places, in fact--part of it was mulling over Hermes' ongoing, slightly worrisome behavior, another part was fretting about Aziraphale and Crowley and the awkwardness whenever she'd been in the same place with both of them recently, and the rest was wondering just how long it was going to take the Snob to get back to her with some answers. She had half a mind to go and pester him about it, but (she admitted only very privately and very reluctantly) she was a little scared of what he might have learned. She honestly wasn't sure what to hope for. So she let it be, for the moment.)

And then there was John, who represented a whole category of problems and anxieties on his own. He'd been acting so....flaky on and off since his precipitous deperature and sudden return. She was trying not to worry about him, but it was difficult when he was tied to a greater or lesser degree into most of the other situations she had on her mind. Impossible stubborn disaster-prone clod of a human...

Deep in thought, she was almost completely oblivious to her surroundings as she walked past the front desk, arms folded, head slightly bowed.

Comments

[apocryphalwords.livejournal.com]

"Don't be that way," he growled, a bit louder, not budging. "And your language is positively abyssmal. Little demon-whores don't speak to me that way."

Snappish, he wiped his hand across his lips, smudging the gloss stickily across his hand. Little bitch, no call for her acting like that.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie's eyes glimmered redly for an instant. She'd been called much worse (and less accurate) things than a whore, but such an undertone of contempt coming from Lucifer's pathetically devoted vassal cut deep. Fear now mingled with anger. That was never a good thing; it made her reckless, and even here, under the mantle of Adam's power, that was incredibly dangerous.

Honestly, though--if Beelzebub didn't know who she was, then the only reason he could be dogging her now was an attempt at favor-currying, and/or his own sick amusement. She'd paid several times over for whatever crimes she had committed against Heaven and Hell alike, and she was weary of skulking and hiding. Why couldn't they all just leave her in peace?

"If you don't like my attitude, then stop talking to me," she snapped. "We're not in Dis, and there's no Morningstar here to back you up. His kid frowns on the guests harrassing each other, so unless you plan to grow a pair and challenge Adam's authority, I will say to you again--let me pass."

[apocryphalwords.livejournal.com]

Beelzebub flinched visibly at the mention of that brat-child's name. Adam held a sway over him that he disliked in the worst of ways, in a way that he had never even been given the chance to resent Lucifer for, and it made his curious dislike for this auraless succubus intensify tenfold. He knew what she was, and the trouble she had caused, and she was a symbol for all that he thought was wrong. If one thing, he was loyal to Lucifer, and to betray one's own nature so hideously was to betray, above all things, Lucifer.

"I don't like anything about you," he shot back. He rarely raised his voice in anger, but her flippish way of describing her betrayal wriggled under his skin. "And neither am I afraid of Adam. I do what I want. I go where I want. I ask whatever I want." He was very aware of how haughty he sounded, how confident that Adam would never harm him, and he knew he was lying through her teeth. But she didn't need to know that he knew.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

"Then we do have something in common," Ellie snarled, her eyes burning brightly now, claws extending. "But unlike you, slave boy, I really mean it. Last chance, Beelzebub, I'm through asking nicely."

She was certain she couldn't take him and didn't know what Adam would do, but the alternative was to run (futile, she was pretty sure) or to meekly submit to his demands, which was completely out of the question. She wasn't the only one who would suffer if Lucifer got his hands on the wrong information.

She only hoped that the terms of the enforced truce precluded kidnapping. Beelzebub unquestionably had the power to take her out of the Manor against her will, and if he did that, she was well and truly screwed.