Rebirth

Chapter Three

"Yeah... It's alright Mom... I know... Me too, tell him I said Good Luck..." You listened intently to your mother's voice. You stood before your kitchen sink, pinching your phone between your head a shoulder as you got a glass of water. Your mother spoke softly on the other end of the line while you filled up your glass.
You then walked around the little island at the edge of your kitchen, taking a shallow sip of water then placing it behind you on the counter you leaned on, "Yeah... No I can make it, I just need to stop by grab some stuff at the store and stop by Sage's... Yeah, 5:30, right? I'll be there. I promise... Okay... Okay... I love you too, Bye."
You pressed your finger into the screen of your phone and watched it hang up. A heavy sigh rolled from your lips as you slumped on the counter. Today was going to be a rough day. You spun around to reach for your glass of water and instead screamed at the top of your lungs, terrified by the demon that showed up out of nowhere.
It was Alastor, leaning into the opposite side of the counter with his cheek resting in his hand, "Hello, hello, hello~" He purred with a wicked grin, "Your screams are always music to my ears." God... why today? This just had to happen today, didn't it?
You were prepared this time though, kind of. You saw the salt only a few inches away. That hurt demons, right? You were sure you read that somewhere. You were ready to jump for it, but Alastor was one step ahead. He tipped his head all the way to the side as a click and pop fizzled from his form. A brow lifted as his grin twitched wider onto his face.
You froze, not able to tare your fearful gaze from his dark red eyes. Alastor smiled more while he flicked the little salt shaker over with his finger. Little white salt rocks spilled onto your counter, "Don't you listen?" Alastor's smile didn't fade, "It just won't work, dear," He dipped his red-tipped finger into the salt. Nothing happened. Fuck... Okay. You'd have to look more into this. Something had to work! What kind of demon can just... Do whatever they want? Aren't there supposed to be rules to this?
You were not in the mood for Alastor's shenanigans today. It was awful that you realized that; No, the other night was not a dream and it all really did happen. You pinched the bridge of your nose as you calmed down your racing heart, "You just pop up whenever you want, huh?" You asked him and he quickly nodded his head. You felt something simmer in your chest. Rage? Fear? Probably a little bit of both, "Maybe... I don't know? Use the door next time? Ever heard of knocking?"
Alastor grinned and knocked three times on the counter, "Heelloooo~ Anybody in there?"
Ugh... You rolled your eyes at him while brushing stray hairs out of your face, "What do you want?"
He chuckled and tapped his claw like fingers on the counter, "Why I'm here to spend the day with you, my dear! Quite exciting really, I've been looking forward to this all morning!"
You sucked in a heavy sigh and exhaled all of your bottled up irritation in one passive breath, "You really choose the worst day," You told him, you watched his brows raise in interest, "I'm not even going to be home, so you'll be stuck here alone. You might as well just leave,"
Alastor's grin twisted up, "On the contrary, dear, I can come with you!"
What? You spent almost all of this morning researching what you could on demonic entities and ghosts. Wasn't the number one rule that they were trapped in the house they haunted? Guess not, or maybe Alastor was a different type of ghost... Demon... Thingy. He did say traditional methods wouldn't work on him.
"Well you should leave anyway, I have to go shopping, then stop at my friend's house, then go to the hospital because my father is in the middle of surgery," You tried to explain, hoping he'd be bored and uninterested.
That did not work, Alastor stood up tall and walked around the counter between the two of you, "That all sounds very entertaining," He spoke in a light and bubbly tone, a smile on his face, "I haven't been here since 1933!" Was he talking about... the earth? Who exactly was Alastor?
"How can you even leave Hell and walk around among the living? Aren't you suppose to be trapped down there?" You had so many questions. This all happened so suddenly and you hadn't a clue how any of this demon stuff worked.
Alastor smiled more, seemingly happy to explain, "That would be from the help of my good friend here from the other side," He waved his hand and you watched his shadow climb from ground and form into that spirit that showed up moments before Alastor did. The shadow spirit gave you a crooked smile, "This is Eon, you knew him in your last life as well! We were such a happy bunch!" Alastor seemed so pleased to introduce you, and that's when you realized he didn't really answer your question.
"Okay, cool... What's he got to do with this?"
Eon faded towards you, a smile on his face, "Everything!" His voice was unnaturally deep, "Just think of me as the anchor that is holding sweet Alastor here on the surface!" So that meant without Eon, Alastor would be sucked right back down into Hell... Maybe that was a weakness?
"Now then!" Alastor snapped his fingers and Eon faded away like smoke in the wind, "Shall we get going, my dear?"
He wasn't going to let this go, was he? You really had no choice in the matter. You were stuck with him and he wasn't going to leave.
How do you google how to get rid of a super-powerful demon that probably shouldn't be here? Maybe Bing...? You shook those thoughts away and felt uneasy, "Fine, but can you not look so... evil?" Alastor didn't say anything, but he lightly tipped his head to the side while grinning, "You know? More.. Human? Alive? I can't exactly walk around with you like that,"
You did have a point. Alastor saw no reason to refuse so he gave you a closed smile as he closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, "Very well, my dear," There was a quick swirl of dark shadows twisting around him. In a flash of black magic, he was restored into a body that felt foreign to him.
Well... this was somewhat better. He looked human for sure. He had dark brown hair, fluffy and well kept with dark eyes to match. His smile wasn't as chaotic and large, but it was still intimidating and never fading. He still stood out though because he looked like he walked out of a different time era.
You shook your head, "You still look like a serial killer."
"How did you know?" He grinned at you as he peered over the little half-moon glasses resting on his nose.
You chose to disregard that, "Can't you look a little more from this decade? You're making this really hard, you do realize you probably don't want my friends and family to know a demon is haunting me, and you can't kill me because my soul is still pure," You started to realize you had a lot more power in this situation, "You do want me to go to hell, don't you?" You started to flash a smirk of your own. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as you thought.
And Alastor knew you were right, and it didn't help that you realized how to bargain with him. You were lucky that Alastor knew when to pick and choose his battles. He lifted his hand above his head then waved it down the length of his body. As his fingertips passed over his clothes they changed from that of a 1920s radio host to that of modern business casual clothes. He wore a white dress shirt with a dark red sweater vest and a black-tie tucked behind it. Black dress pants adorned his legs with sleek black leather loafers. His half-moon glasses become large full moon wireframes.
You watched Alastor adjust his clothes. He buttoned up the cuffs of his sleeves and you couldn't stop staring, you even noticed the watch peeking out from under his sleeve. He was... well. You couldn't lie. He was very handsome. He looked very natural now, like a professor of some kind with a more relaxed smile on his face, "Is this better now?" He asked, not a single sound of static in his voice. He sounded so much different. His voice was deeper than you expected and it didn't sound as demonic or twisted.
Now all that was left was what to tell people when they asked who he was. You needed to come up with a good lie but nothing came to mind that seemed to work. They only thing you could think of saying was that he was a neighbor and a new friend. It was going to have to work.
"It's good enough," You told him and headed for the door. He was quick to follow after you.
You lived deep within the city, you didn't drive or have a car and you lived within walking distance of everything you needed, it was probably the best part about your new apartment. However, you were far from Sage's house and far from the hospital as well. You'd have to take a few trains to get to those. But first you wanted to stop at the supermarket to grab some nice things for your father.
Alastor followed you out of the building and the two of you walked side by side down the sidewalk. You were watching Alastor as his eyes darted around, "Where are we?" He asked calmly.
"New York City," You told him, "Have you never been here?"
"No, no, no," Alastor gave a little wave of his hand, "I'm born and bred from the south! New Orleans was my home. I was a radio show host! Annnnd serial killer~"
"Geeze, I couldn't tell," You rolled your eyes at him with a rude undertone. You didn't exactly want to get to know him.
Alastor kept a strong smile and happily changed the topic, "I've only seen urban jungles like this in Hell. I don't know why I didn't think the surface would look like this too."
"Not everywhere looks like this. Just the cities," You told him. Alastor seemed interested in what had happened since he died. You noticed that he kept watching car after car pass by down the street, "Did you like cars?"
He watched a black one zip by, then a red one in the other direction, "Not really. I never had the need for one. I much prefer taking a good stroll," He lifted his hand and out poofed a cane from nowhere.
"No magic!" You quickly scolded him as he smiled down at you. You looked around, thank god no one was looking, "Don't do anything that will attract attention, please," You gave him a pleading look.
He nodded as the two of you kept walking. There was a bark of a dog yapping away from inside someone's window and the second Alastor heard it you saw his eyes get a little wider and his smile grew more forced. You peered at him and watched as his features relaxed only in the slightest way as you got further from the dog in the window.
You didn't think much of it, maybe he just didn't like dogs? It wasn't long before you had gotten to the supermarket. You expected Alastor to be baffled by it, but apparently, they had plenty of these in Hell too.
"So what are we getting today, my dear? A shopping list? Gifts? Tools for anarchy?" Alastor followed beside you as you walked around the store.
"I want to get something nice for my dad," You said, "A card, some flowers, and I was thinking a really nice pillow and blankets. Something he could use while he recovers in the hospital."
"That sounds very nice of you, (Y/n)," Alastor spoke kindly, "If you don't mind me asking, why is he in the hospital?"
"I don't mind," You found the cards and started picking through them, "He's got cancer all over his body. He had a surgery to get some of the infected areas removed or... something like that." Honestly, he was dying. And your father was dying a slow and painful death. It broke your heart, you didn't want him to go yet so you did your best to enjoy what time you had left with him. The only comfort Alastor's presence brought was knowing that there was some kind of afterlife. So maybe one day you'd see your father again. He was a good man, he didn't deserve this suffering.
"I'm sorry to hear that, (Y/n)," Alastor truly sounded sorry, as if he empathized with you. You found it hard to believe that a demon could do that, "I hope he finds peace soon,"
"Me too," You said glumly as you chose a card to give to your father.
The two of you made your way to the bouquets of flowers in silence. No one said anything. You looked over the flowers and watched as Alastor dipped his nose into a bunch of roses. He took a deep breath in and you could see the loose smile on his face.
"Do you like roses?" You asked him.
"I love them," He replied as he pulled one from the bunch, "A wild rose grows in a thicket of thorns, protected by their sharp serrated edges," You watched him press his own finger into a thorn but never pressing hard enough to break his skin, "Long ago you were the rose to my thorns," He confessed and you heard the dip in his tone and loneliness in his voice, "It makes me so happy to have found you again," He put the rose back into its bouquet and gave one last deep breath in.
Something about him felt very sad despite his smile. He may have looked and sounded human but you could still feel the odd radio waves that pulsed off him. They were shallow and small. You hated that you felt bad for him. He must have really cared for you in your last life. That's when you realized you never knew the extent of your relationship with this demon. You wanted to ask, but you were also afraid of the answer.
You stared at Alastor for a second longer then sighed, "Would you like me to buy them for you?" You had just plucked a bouquet of sunflowers for your father, "I'd rather buy them before you steal them."
He laughed at that, a cool and low chuckle, "No, it's alright. Thank you though, dear," At least you offered.
The rest of your shopping was quick. Alastor would ask about this and that every few seconds. He guessed all your favorite foods and songs and even your favorite number. It started to show that he really wasn't lying about knowing your soul. Something about it felt... odd. You couldn't describe it. It made your heart race a little too fast for comfort. He was incredibly polite. He smiled and waved at other people, he said hello to a few of them too. He insisted on carrying your little plastic shopping bags for you as well.
It made you wonder who you were before. Were you the same as this? Did you look the same? Alastor mentioned that you were a sinner and a killer just like him. You thought about how difficult and terrible it would be to take another's life. If Alastor was telling the truth, then what caused you to become the monster he claimed you to be? Why were you reincarnated? And what made you so different from that now? There were so many unanswered questions and you knew Alastor wasn't going to answer them. You were going to have to figure them out by yourself.
After leaving the store you went to a train station. So far it wasn't going as bad as you thought it would. You figured Alastor would have been more troublesome, but he was actually quite mild-mannered. You had a sneaky suspicion that if he had the chance, he'd try and do only God knows what. Or maybe Lucifer in this case...
It was off to Sage's house after that. The train ride was quiet for the most part aside from Alastor humming a tune. You didn't mind, he was pretty good at it. You watched him while he smiled away staring out the window. You could only guess what was going on in his mind.
From the train station, you had to walk down a couple of blocks. Sage and Vanderlinde lived in a neat little gated community in the suburbs of New York City.
"Okay, you should probably stay behind for this," You said as you rounded the corner onto Sage's street, "I'm gonna be like... 10 minutes at the most. I just left some clothes behind."
Alastor shook his head, "I'm going to have to say no on that. I want to meet these so-called friends of yours."
You spotted Sage's little white house down the street, "Why?"
He shrugged with a smile, "I'm curious to see what kind of people you surround yourself with," It was an honest answer and you didn't expect him to say that.
As you neared Sage's house you tried to think up a reason why Alastor couldn't come with you. You just didn't want to come up with a whole slew of lies about who and what he was. You were in front of her house and as you stepped from the sidewalk and onto her driveway you heard a big THONK as if something, or rather someone had walked into a glass window.
You turned around and saw Alastor still standing on the sidewalk with a hand pressed onto his forehead. You stared wide-eyed as he pressed a hand into an invisible wall. What the hell?
Alastor's face -still with a smile- showed confusion then curiosity then... fear. It cracked onto his face and his eyes gave it away. Suddenly you saw Eon drift out of Alastor's shadow. He did not look happy. There was no smile, not even a mouth was on his face. Just large terrifying holes for eyes as they soaked in what was going on. They grew larger, peering into your soul. The coldest fear cut you as he looked at you
That's when you realized you were free if only for a few moments. You didn't even care that your shopping bags were still with Alastor. You looked at him one more time, watching his eyes grow larger with an emotion you couldn't understand. Then you turned on your heel and ran towards Sage's house as fast as you could.
You didn't look back, you ran as fast and stumbling along the way. You threw open Sage's front door and escaped inside, leaving Alastor and Eon behind.