Ho+el

0.5

"Nora, Nora, it's time to wake up,"

The voice was not sweet and simple like Ellara's and I found myself already internally frowning at Jareth's annoying voice.

"Five more minutes," I muttered, rolling over and tugging the thin sheet over my head with the full intention of sleeping a lot longer than five minutes.

"You mistake my command for a request, it is time to get up, Nora."

The sheet was wrenched from my head and tossed aside on the floor.

I sat up, glaring at him, I wanted to be intimidating, but I had a feeling that it just wasn't exactly working out against a nearly seven foot tall Satan impersonator.

"You smell, grab your clean clothes and follow me, let's get you a shower."

"Good morning to you too," I muttered, my hands grabbing the pile of clothes as I followed behind him, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"You survived the twenty-four hours, though you got to sleep through most of it, so congrats, you're more than just a pathetic little human," Jareth said, looking over his shoulder at me.

"I did?" I asked, had I really been asleep for nearly twenty-four hours?

"Don't worry about the sleeping part, it's a huge part of healing from a gun-shot wound, my kind— well, I suppose your kind too, we aren't like humans, bullets can't stop us. Sure, they have more of an effect on you since you're still half human, but normal demons, like me, they're merely a nusance really, most bullets won't even bring us down."

"Then, how do you die?"

"We don't." He smirked at his own comment before he turned into another door, I followed closely behind, and he shut it behind us.

Jareth turned then, his body pressing me against the door, the cold metal of the door-knob biting into my back, "Word of advice, Halfling; if I were you, I wouldn't go around here asking how to kill demons, just because you have something special in your blood doesn't mean that others won't bathe in it. Got it?"

I nodded, cowering against the door.

"Good, the shower is through there," he pointed ahead towards another corner, "there's towels hanging up, you need to shower and put those clothes on and then come back to the lobby. Do not make any pit stops, if you are going to stay here, you're going to work. Understand, Halfling?"

"My name is Nora, and yes, Jareth, I understand."

"Good. Now go wash up, you smell worse than hell."

Laughing at his own joke, Jareth turned and left the room.

+

Jareth

"Jareth, she's come," Isabelle's face was pale, and she looked even wiry than she usually did.

"No, how could she have known?" I asked, my steps quickening in pace as I made my way to the lobby.

"She knew, Jareth, she always knows!" Isabelle said, her steps were frequent and fast behind me as she attempted to follow, I knew that her legs were far shorter than mine and that she was having trouble keeping up, but I couldn't slow now, not when she could be in my very lobby.

I turned the corner quickly, moving directly into the darkly colored lobby and stopped, my breath hitching in my throat.

There she stood, power radiating off of her skin as she gave me a malicious smile.

"Hello, Jareth, I smelled the little gift you have for me, I bet she's delicious."