His Guardian Demon

8

I sat in the empty hotel living room, twisting a silver ring around my finger absently. It was something I often when I was thinking about something deeply. It was the thing Alastor had dropped into my hand the last time we saw each other. Of course, that was only thing I thought about so often and so deeply anymore, even though several years had passed and my hope was starting to run thin. It was a fight to keep that hope afloat, and it got harder everyday. 

But.

It was all I had left of him now. I was going to keep it with me no matter what.

Currently, the hotel was empty. I was the only one who hadn't gone out with everyone else. Charlie and her girlfriend, Vaggie, were at the news station for an interview. Only god knows where Angel had run off to. I'd hung back, I wasn't a fan of all the turf war happening everywhere and didn't like being out and about in general anymore. It made me anxious. Charlie did try to convince me to go with her and Vaggie, and so did Angel. My guess was that they thought I would get lonely in this huge, run down building all by myself, but they never really understood that I preferred to be by myself. They  didn't understand how I operated. I was okay with that really. I was here and everything was quiet and still. Exactly how I liked things to be.

I wasn't quite sure how long I sat there for, just playing with my ring, but the sound of the door in the lobby opening startled me out of my deep thought. I drew in a deep, shaky breath and went to greet my friends.

"You're back." I smiled a little. "How was it?" 

Charlie sighed heavily. Vaggie looked kind of pissed off. Angel looked indifferent.

"Well, the interview didn't go so well.." Charlie said. That's when I noticed the small tear in her suit jacket and the mess of her hair. Before I could say anything however, Vaggie piped up, glaring a hole in Angel.

"Doesn't help that this one messed it up even more than it had to be," she hissed. Angel rolled his eyes.

"Don't start," I said firmly, "What's done is done and what happened happened. We're not here to place blame." 

Vaggie didn't have anything to say to that, and Angel sauntered over to me, sticking his tongue out at her. It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"I'm gonna make a phone call quick." Charlie took a deep breath and manages a small smile. I nodded and ushered Angel and Vaggie into the living room to give her some privacy.

"You sound like a mom," Angel said when I reentered the living room behind them.

"And you act like a child," I replied smoothly, "Whatever it was you did you shouldn't have done it." 

"Oh c'mon! I was helping a friend-" 

"Ah!" I cut him off mid sentence. "I don't want to hear it." 

I turned my back to Vaggie and Angel, but I could still feel them glaring at each other behind me. I let myself space out again, resuming my ring twisting. A few minutes later, Charlie pokes her head in, looking a little nervous.

"Uh, Vaggie? The Radio Demon is at the door-" 

My heart skips a beat.

No. Don't get your hopes up.

"Well don't let him in!" Vaggie looks equally freaked out now.

Charlie then looked at me, standing there frozen in the doorway. She waved a hand in front of my face to get my attention and I blinked a few times.

"Allie? You okay?" She asked, "You seem a little out of it." 

"I'm fine," I said quickly, "Do you mind if I answer the door, though?" 

She seemed to catch on to what I was thinking and nodded. I slipped past her into the entryway, despite Vaggie repeatedly telling me not to open the door. I completely ignored and grabbed the door handle, hesitating a moment.

What if we open the door and it's clearly not who we think it is? It could be anyone. 

Try anyway, said the little voice, open it.

I pulled the door open and looked up at the figure standing there.

And completely froze.

"May I-" 

He abruptly stopped talking, looking down at me. The big smile on his face faded momentarily. My heart started to pound so loud that I almost felt like I was vibrating.

Charlie was behind me again suddenly. I was tempted to close the door again, but something told me Charlie had already done that to him, so I just stood there in the doorway, my body feeling completely useless. He looked vastly different, but it was most certainly still Alastor. It had to be, there was no one else that it could be in my mind.

"I'm actually seeing this, right?" He murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, "I'm not dreaming?" 

"No," I breathed, "I think we're both seeing the same thing right now." 

Alastor shook his head a little and smiled at Charlie. "Will you excuse us a moment?" 

"Sure thing, absolutely," she agreed instantly, "Take your time." 

With that, Alastor grabbed my hand, pulled me out the door and shut it behind me. There was a few seconds of silence and then he swept me off the ground in the biggest bear hug I'd ever received in my entire life. I could feel him trembling, and I was shaking a little myself, tears of joy gathering in my eyes.

"I thought I was never going to see you again," he said into my ear, laughing a little, "You have no idea how much I've missed you." 

I hugged him a little tighter. "I missed you too... So much that it hurt..." 

Told ya so, giggled the little voice. The inner critic had nothing to say for once.

We stayed there like that for what felt like an eternity before he put me down and we reentered the hotel so he could talk to Charlie about helping out with the hotel. It had been the best stand still of my entire life. My universe was once again whole, and it was going to stay that way this time. I knew it was.

And for once, I was really, truly happy.