RadioApple X Reader: Imperfect

23. Worries

*** Alastor's POV ***

The doll I had given Y/n was a fascinating piece of magic. It contained just a drop of my blood and quite a few bindings which all culminated in an object the precense of which I could feel anywhere in the Pride Ring. I couldn't know the exact location unless something abnormal happened to it, bit I could tell how it was being handled. So I knew Y/n had gently placed it or if it was taken from her. Also, as I told Y/n if she said my name while holding it, I would hear it immediately, allowing me to teleport to the shadow of the person holding it. In a nutshell it was a loose voodoo doll of my self combined with a bit if my own shadow magic.

It was also a period at the end of an overly wordy clause describing all my worries concerning Y/n being heaven knows where, in Hell.

It was a frustrating dichotomy. I couldn't cage her, tell her to stay at he hotel or go with her where ever she went. But at the same time worry gnawed on me. If there was one thing that was concerning about openly courting her was it was entirely possible for any of my enemies, Vox being the primary potential suspect, to decide that she was a good way to get under my skin. A weakness they can exploit. But be it pride, or something else I wasn't going to let those fad chasing peasants dictate the way I treat a lady.

My thoughts swirled around and round lulling me into a slightly distracted haze. A peppy tune played in the ambiance accompanying me through the hotel on my usual afternoon rounds, making sure no walls were blown up and no toilets clogged with a stuck Nifty. The spot in my being reserved for the dolls presence contently filled and easing my worries.

And then... Gone. Empty.

As if the period was erased, the entire thing dipped in ice cold bleach, there was nothing. Ripped from the page and out of my being entirely taking what felt like most of my intestines with it. Leaving mangled bits of innards in its place.

Where did Y/n go? I didn't feel any violent jerking, or the touch of anyone else on the doll. I could tell if it was specifically Y/n touching it though that was more because I knew how Y/n felt, it was the only touch that didn't send me down murder creek - not anything special about the doll. It also didn't get destroyed, I would have felt that too. Nor did any other magic come in contact with it. It was like it existed one second, and then ceased to the next.

But I knew the last location it was, it being the last silent ping in my memory before the disappearance. So I headed there immediately traveling by shadow. Getting there without the doll took longer but after a few jumps I was standing in front of a small coffee shop. It was quaint, and had I not been in a dire situation I may have wondered if the coffee was any good. I walked inside of it and predictably the currently present menagerie in there scrambled out of sight. I walked up to he counter to look at a petrified barista in the shape of a sheep demon.

"Hello dear, did you happen to see a calico cat demon here few moments ago?" I asked, smiling dangerously down at her.

"N-no." She managed to get out.

"Hmmm." No? How? Maybe she was with someone who ordered for her? "What about a very short and a pretty looking man, with blond hair and gold eyes?" Did I just say pretty? No, never mind, not the time.

"No, no one like that." The sheep bleated out.

This wasn't good. Without saying another word I made my way back to the hotel, lingering at the entrance briefly. So Lucifer wasn't with her? So then where else would she go. Unless... he could shape shift. So perhaps he disguised himself as to not draw attention. It made sense, but the thought it self gave me a bitter taste in the back of my mouth and not the good dark chocolate kind. I had to keep looking.