Can Nobody Hear Me?

[Eli Sterling]

Prompt List

• Fiend
  
• Firefly
  
• Sword
  
• 3am
  
• Seek
  
• Broken Pieces
  
• Guard
  
• Eyes
  
• Devil
  
• Box
  

[Eli Sterling]

pick up all the broken pieces

He'd tried like hell to avoid getting involved with Heather in Harvey's absence, mostly because he was absolutely positive that, if there was an asshole who could come back from wherever Harvey was, it was that man.  Missing in Action for a man like Harvey, like Liam, typically meant either 'biding my time until I hatch an awesome escape' or 'the job demands that I disappear for awhile, brb', so Eli wasn't banking on Harvey not returning.  Knowing his luck, the guy would show up at the worst possibly moment and then he'd try to wipe his old rival off the face of the planet for some slight that didn't actually exist.  Nobody else knew Harvey to be that kind of person, but he and Eli did not get along, mostly because neither could really understand the other's 'talent'; Eli pretended to understand better than he did, which frustrated the other man to no end.  He didn't want to give the missing hunter a reason to actually go for blood, not when he hadn't rightfully earned it.

Even so, after Harvey had been gone for a few months with no word and Heather called Eli, her voice desperate about a doctor's appointment she couldn't stand to go to alone, he'd told her he'd try.  That he'd found her on the lawn having a miniature freak-out didn't look good, but crisis averted, right?  He sat through the appointment with her, taking up Harvey's role and cringing internally the entire time because he did not want to try to fill those shoes, but she was impossible to say no to, especially right now.  Watching her with the doctor, he could see the things that others couldn't - the glow that came from all shifters, hers a golden hue involving wings and feathers that mingled in a rather angelic (if you believed in that, and he'd never seen an actual angel) way just didn't look the same.  It looked strained, her everything did, like there was some darkness surrounding her that was trying to choke it off.  He couldn't make it out properly until she talked him into lunch afterwards (which he insisted on paying for) and then invited him back to the house for coffee.  He would have refused for the same reason he'd been trying to keep his distance previously, but it was that strain that got him to go along with it.  From a block away, he was glad that he had.

She had a veritable mob of things outside the apartment building, and as he escorted her in, he could feel the fuckers reaching out to try to brush against her.  He essentially formed a psychic bubble around the two of them to get a bit of peace just to get inside, and if he'd thought that it was over then, he was horrifically wrong.  The inside of the building was easy enough to deal with, the things that had gotten in few and far between because they weren't actually interested in most of the residents, but inside her apartment?  He released a breath, looking around, and just had one word for his surroundings. "Wooow."

Heather, naturally, took it the wrong way and instantly got upset and started straightening up, like he'd commented on it being a mess; it was cluttered, and he got the impression she hadn't cared to vacuum like she used to, but that wasn't it.  There was a lot in there, circling and pushing, and as soon as he'd walked in the place, something had essentially hit him like a hammer between the eyes or walking into a brick wall.  Its message was clear - Stop.  Get out.  Go away.  Mine.

"Whoa, hey, no, it's fine.  Heather, relax," he told her, though he wasn't sure how convincing he was when he was staring at a single corner of the ceiling that was darker than the rest.  She wouldn't be able to see what he saw there, but there was a reason small children (and animals) had this habit of staring at a spot like that - if he looked away, it could move and he wouldn't be fully prepared.  At this point, it was aggressive and territorial enough that it could either take off for another corner of the house to wait until he was gone, or attack him, he wasn't sure.  "You know, I've been thinking.  You've been cooped up in this place for too long, why don't you pack a bag and we'll set you up at my place for a few days.  I have a million channels on a big tv, my building has a pool and jacuzzi available, and you can relax some.  Mini vacation."

He said it like it was a suggestion, tearing his eyes away from the corner to smile at her, but he was simultaneously mentally pushing back against the thing that, yes, had totally been about to come at him.  This place was a mess, and that wasn't the only thing lingering; he could feel the others like tiny prickly ants crawling up his back, and if he rolled his shoulders to try to shake the feeling, he figured she wouldn't pay it any mind.  Fortunately, she told him how kind his offer was and accepted it, probably subconsciously just as desperate to get away from this place as he actively was to get her out of it, and he had her packed and out in just a few minutes.  Over the next few days, he feigned having to work (he actually worked in spurts, and had these days off), and seemed suitably exhausted when he got home that she didn't doubt it.  What she didn't know, in this situation, couldn't hurt her.

The first day, he'd gone back to her apartment using a key he'd lifted from her keyring and made a copy of (he couldn't risk her realizing it was gone and throwing any weird accusations around), and he'd had to start with that nasty that had made itself at home first.  It was the strongest, which was why it was so aggressive, and it held on the hardest, but it wasn't like there were many people like him out there.  It was unafraid because it had never seen someone like him, and by the time it realized who it was dealing with, it was too late.  He sent it packing, and then had to systematically work at clearing out all of the other nooks and crannies in the place.  Corners, behind furniture, in closets and under beds were fantastic places for nasties to hide, and while that sounded like kid stuff, again, there was a reason children feared those places.  They knew without trying things that adults forgot.  He spent most of the day clearing her place out, that was how many things he'd had to track down and work out, and then he put a temporary 'bubble' around the place to keep other shit out.  Then, he'd gone home, made them both some dinner, and passed right the hell out.  On the couch, because he'd changed the sheets and given her his bed.  Couldn't have a pregnant guest on the couch.

The second day, he started in on 'finishing' Harvey's renovations.  It was a good excuse for screwing with her floors and walls, but it was a lengthy procedure.  He put protective sigils on the floor and then carpeted over them (he pulled up the carpet in places that had already been finished and then re-laid it), put holes in her walls to drop herb bags in the right places, and basically the same went for her ceilings.  It was a bitch, but considering how infested the place was before, he couldn't take any chances.  He warded it down like he'd done his own house, which wouldn't save her if she was outside of her house and drawing stuff in, but at least it wouldn't be able to follow her inside.  The last day, he chased off the things that were hovering outside, which was a tricky business when there were potential witnesses, but he had practice.

When she was ready to go home, the place was light and airy again, and more importantly, it was safe.

[Eli Sterling]

a sad compound of the fiend

Harvey's not-friend had really left Heather and her newborn son as protected as was supernaturally possible between his own warding and the Smoke witch that was helping babysit, but he had to work, and sometimes, his work took him out of the city for a few days.  In this case, it took him out of the country for about a week, which shouldn't have been all that long in the grand scheme of things, but it was long enough.  Even if what Heather didn't know might not hurt her, what Eli didn't know could definitely hurt them all.

When he returned to the States, he went right to her place because he'd promised and the absolute last thing he wanted was for her to freak out over him being 'missing' or something (she pretended that it was all okay and she'd moved on, but he knew she was lying), but he crashed out on the couch without much in the way of socializing.  That tired.  It was a shame, because if he wasn't so utterly spent, he might have been able to pick up on the rather serious danger that was stepping around like a rat trying to figure out how to get at the cheese without setting off the trap.  In this case, Heather and the baby were the prize, and Eli the trap.  The problem was that this thing didn't mind breaking said trap to get at the delicious bit of cheese it so carefully protected, and it was tough enough that it could potentially do so. 

What he didn't know was that this particularly clever rat had been bouncing between the apartments around Heather's - her next door neighbors, above and below her were all its haunts, and it moved often enough that it didn't leave a good scent for her favorite psychic to pinpoint.  He'd feel something unpleasant, and then it'd be gone.  While it terrorized her neighbors, it picked away at the defenses on her home, looking for a way into that bright, happy bubble of safety Eli had created for her home, and it found one, but only after it had already caused the lovely elderly woman upstairs to have a heart attack when it grabbed her ankle and tried to yank her under her own bed, the downstairs lady to slip in the bathroom and drown unconscious in her tub and the other two...unknown causes.  It had built up its strength for this, and Heather, though protected, was still not at her strongest.  Eli was back and sleeping on her couch, but she'd been a nervous wreck while he was gone and some of the fear lingered.  It smelled that, managed to cling to it, and so when she was bringing the baby back from a shopping venture, it got a single, little suggestion in. 

Let me in.

Eli vaguely registered the knock at the door the first time, and then definitely heard the second one, because it was BOOMING, and Heather rushed to the door like a woman possessed.  It was true, in a sense, because she was possessed of an idea, one that the sleepy psychic wasn't entirely prepared for.  His eyes went wide and he yelled, "Heather, NO!" just as she opened the door with a nervous, 'come in', and it was far too late.  He felt it enter like a cold, slimy sweat down his back, and even throwing power at the door as it tried to enter didn't stop it.  She'd invited it.  It took him twenty minutes, and that was twenty minutes too long to convince her to go out to get the supplies for a very particular dish for dinner, one that he had simply been craving while he was away; it happened to also be one that he knew she had to go to at least three different stores for, considering the way New York grocers worked.  It was another five minutes to get her to take the baby, then another five to actually get her out the door.

Once she was gone, he closed the door behind her, turned around and tried to clue in on that thing, and found it everywhere and nowhere specific.  "Oooh, you're good," he murmured, eyes heavy lidded as he varied between looking around and closing them to feel his surroundings and yes, the thing was everywhere.  It was impossible to simply pinpoint and target him.  Next tactic?  Eli went right back to the couch, laid down, and seemingly nodded off for another nap.  The difference between reality and perception was that he wasn't actually napping, but projecting his spirit, or whatever, out into the house.  It put what he'd only been getting a very basic idea of into super-sharp detail, and he actually whistled when he saw the bodies strewn across the apartment.  This fucker brought a mess along with him.

This didn't mean that all of those spirits were present, or that there were actually bodies in the apartment, but that it had retained bits and pieces of previous victims.  It was a serial killer, by all rights, and these were its souvenirs.  Eli had to be careful working his way through the suddenly oppressively dark room, and the first one he bumped nearly brought him to his knees with the sudden influx of pain, terror and memory that came with it.  Nights of blind fear with the lights left on while it lingered just out of sight in the closet, knowing it was stalking through the dark hall, panic as something unseen chased you up the stairs, and then the final blow at the top of the stairs that sent the poor girl cascading back down to her death.  For obvious reasons, he tried to avoid brushing any of the others as he made his way through, but there were two more, and both were as all-encompassing as the first.  The thing he sought was obviously not in the living room or kitchen, which he could see and feel fairly well, so he had to get into the rest of the house.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered as he finally cleared the damn living room, admittedly a little shaken and definitely not fucking happy about the situation.  There had to be twenty of them just in the living room, and then he had to contend with the hallway.  One look down it and he groaned.  "This is why I fucking hated Japan."

The bodies in here were broken, dropped haphazardly and definitely in his way, but damn it, he had to get through and find that fucker before Heather got home.  It can safely be assumed that he had a few more unpleasant 'retellings' of the creature's exploits, and then he hit the bathroom.  He actually kicked one of the bodies in there over, getting blasted with its story, but also getting it the fuck out of his way, and no, he was not getting upset, not at all.  He cleared the bathroom in a military fashion befitting his training, which left the bedrooms.  Liam's and Heather's. 

Heather's was the first door he reached, and he pushed it open with his forearm, quickly scanning the corners before making his careful way inside.  Everything was so dark that it wasn't like he could see much in the corners, but he was reaching out mentally more than anything.  He had a 'form' here, but it was a very loose idea of where exactly he was, since his consciousness could zip through the room in a less direct sense and he could get a grip on what was here.  None of it felt nice, but other than a distant sound of laughter, he didn't get anything.  There was something laying on Heather's bed, though.  Did he have to check it?  No, he didn't, not really, but he still found himself yanking the blanket back. 

It was the next door neighbor, eyes wide and glassy, her lips sewn shut.  He winced, not okay with that, and snapped his head around at the sound of laughter again.  "Wonderful."

Follow the fucking leader, apparently.  He didn't like the feeling like it was leading him towards the back, but since tracking its ass down was the whole point, he went anyway.  Back into the hallway and then to Liam's room, which was...surprisingly devoid of corpses.  Huh.  Must've run out at about...Eli was willing to bet 45-50, which made him wonder exactly who and what this thing was.  Despite the lack of gore, the room was still creepy and dark, which might have unsettled someone who wasn't as used to it as Eli was (projecting like he did landed him in the weirdest incarnations of familiar places, both good and bad), and a distant kind of moan that was definitely sexual in origin rang out from somewhere within.  He hesitated, hoping this wasn't about to get weirder in a definitely uncomfortable way, then didn't care to worry about it any further as he walked in and caught some form scrabbling across the ceiling, then down the wall.  A black form, always a bad sign if he didn't have any other clues (the bodies were enough that the color didn't surprise him), and it turned to him with red eyes and shiny teeth.  It was the kind of beast that would have terrified him as a kid.

"You know, 30, maybe even 20 years ago?  You would have scared me senseless," he pointed out, taking another step inside.  Somehow, that toothy mouth smiled as it dropped to the floor, and it really was massive.  Fortunately, that mattered here about as much as dick size at a testicular cancer support group meeting. 

"Not now?"

"Nah, all grown up.  You gotta go, my friend," he informed it, tone very conversational despite the obvious stress about to go down.

"No."

"Then, I'm gonna have to make you.  Can't have a mother and child rooming with something like you."

Again with the creepy smile from its place on the wall, and then it stepped away from it, its long legs straightening and supporting its weight upright, though it still slumped over.  Also, it was really tall.  Eli was definitely looking up at it as he watched it, and he wasn't pleased to hear shifting around in the hallway.  With a thought and a flick of his hand, he slammed Liam's door behind him (the sound reverberated through the otherwise silent apartment as he seemingly napped) to try to discourage interruptions from the souvenirs, and again with that laughter.  "Wish I knew what was so fucking funny."

"You'll find out."

"Awesome stock dialogue you got there," he returned, still not seeming to take it seriously, but that was mostly show; he was paying very close attention to everything around him, especially this thing.  When it came at him, it would have looked very much like it was just going to bowl him over, but all of the power that he'd been so slow to draw up, that had trailed through the house behind him like water dripping from drenched clothing, suddenly ripped through the house like a wave.  In its wake dropped the souvenirs, and the beast before him struck the equivalent of a bank vault door when it hit him, and he smiled very slightly before he gave a shove of his own.  It...was not happy, if the roar that left those teeth afterwards was any indication, and then came the real battle.  Despite Eli's obvious element of surprise was concerned, the thing really was strong, so there was a lot of power being thrown around, a lot of what looked like physical blows where they were, and neither was spared injury.  Eli's spirit projection was bleeding from multiple locations just on his face, and definitely more on the rest of him, when he threw that creature down, and then he pressed it into the rug with his power, holding it in place.

"I told you I was going to make you leave.  You should have gone on your own," he snarled down at it, honestly pissed that it had thought that breaking into what he'd warded was acceptable, but it must have thought that the precious cargo within had to be worth protecting.  It was right, but it hadn't banked on Eli. 

Eli, who quite literally splattered the thing in his next move, then had to go through the exhausting and painstaking process of cleansing the apartment.  Again.  By the time Heather got home to make dinner, he was napping in earnest, and though she'd never know exactly what he'd put himself through to keep her and Liam safe, he did still get a few pills for his headache out of her, an awesome meal and some dedicated concerned-mother treatment over him apparently coming down with something.  He wasn't exactly complaining.

[Eli Sterling]

guard her with your heart

Most of the time, Eli preferred that people had no idea what he was capable, since it gave him the most useful element of surprise possible.  There were so few bad situations that he couldn't handle in some way, and while there were some where he'd just cause more damage or be risking too much (he wouldn't be in any rush to just waltz into Midnight, for example), but he had a strong handle on what he could do mentally, he was very capable and highly trained physically and psychically?  He wasn't sure what his boundaries were.  It was a comfortable place for a human to be in a world where there were so many things just waiting to go bump in the night; to be able to bump back was Eli's personal pleasure. 

Then, mostly involving Heather, there were these situations where Eli seriously wished that everyone would just get the hint that he wasn't taking any shit, and just leave her the fuck alone.  When he answered the call from her, he had a bad feeling right from the start, and the strange voice on the other end didn't help matters.  The rest of the conversation, though?  It went from 'bad feeling' to 'definitely bad' to 'fucking pissed' on Eli's end within a few short minutes, and that was never a good sign.  He didn't get that angry easily, and he sure as hell hadn't ever done it where Heather could hear (he was the sort to reassure her, then handle a situation quietly), but there was a first time for everything.  He didn't like it, but she was about to find out that her friend and support system was good for something other than company very soon, and more importantly, so was Kiyoshi.  While the vampire might have just avoided her entirely if he'd known the kind of protector she had now, it did serve Eli's purpose that Kiyoshi didn't see this coming; he'd inadvertently called the last person in her phone that he wanted to show up.

Ever the cautious operative, Eli didn't often walk into a situation that he wasn't so sure he could physically handle, but that was the kind of angry that he was right then.  It was a deep, cold anger, one that froze his thinking processes down to a few swift decisions and then pure action.  As he drove to Heather's place, people on the street and in their cars shivered and looked around, wondering where the frigid wind had come from, but his attention was entirely on the goal, unaffected by the voices, the excited chatter, the mingled anxiety following in his wake.  That wasn't his concern, not yet.

He appeared nothing other than calm and focused as he made his way up to her apartment, using the key that she'd given him to open the door and let himself into the situation.  The man who must have been Kiyoshi sat up with a look and veritable squeal of delight at his appearance, and he fixed the vampire with an expression that seemed to very clearly question whether or not he was serious, but he scanned the apartment mentally very quickly.  It had happened like a gust of wind, too fast for anyone to realize what had happened, but he needed to know that the baby wasn't there and that there were no other vampires.  Nope, just the three of them. 

"And you must be Eli!" the vampire crowed by way of greeting, a brush in his hand as he stepped away from Heather for the moment, then leaned suddenly very close to her to speak in a stage whisper.  "He's handsome!"

Yeah, the handsome gent was so not in the mood for this bullshit.  "I'll be level with you.  Leave now, and you never have to see us again," he offered, voice still in that dangerous tone, the cold one that had the edge of amusement to it, like this was some private joke; in a way, it was, but Kiyoshi wouldn't be in on it until it was too late for him to change his mind. 

"Of COURSE, so was your last loverboy, and look how dead he is.  History repeats itself, you know," Kiyoshi went on, speaking loudly on the first few words like he thought he could just talk over Eli's presence.  Heather choked on a sob, and the only actual human in the room smiled a little.  That was Kiyoshi's last chance.

"Don't ever say I didn't give you a chance," he offered, rolling his shoulders back while Kiyoshi outright laughed at him.  He assumed the vampire had a game all planned out, but for the moment, Heather's 'rescue' was proving more amusing in his confidence than anything.  After all, what could this human do?  Of course, it's all fun and games until someone loses their mind.

Eli's eyelids drooped a little, not entirely passing out and projecting, but not all in the physical world, either, so that there was some strange effect like some other form was superimposing itself over his physical body.  He could affect how he looked in the spirit realm because that wasn't bound by the same laws as reality, but he didn't usually bother because his own form was effortless.  Here and now, he projected darkness, aggression, that primal fear that the unknown could prompt in humans, and though Kiyoshi was long-since taken from the mortal coil, he couldn't be entirely immune to that.  He was speaking quickly, obviously confused by this strange back and forth, like the room had a heartbeat and it was coming from Eli, back and forth, in and out, human and monster, thump-thump thump-thump.

"What is this?  What's going on?   You can't change the rules on ME!  I'M THE ONE IN CHARGE HERE!" Kiyoshi roared, looking like he wasn't sure if he wanted to go for Heather or Eli.  Going for Eli seemed dangerous, but Heather meant taking some of his attention off of Eli.  Choices, choices.  That Eli seemed to be kickstarting a very unstable portion of Kiyoshi's personality didn't make the decision any easier.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

"I thought you wanted to play a game," Eli offered, and his voice had that strange sound of something else laid over it, like it had run through a voice changer that mixed in the sound of a million power-saws, or maybe it was insects. 

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

"It's MY game, kidd-o, you don't get to make the first move."

"But you already made the first move.  This is my counter.  Your turn, but first..." he trailed off, and there was that sound of chatter in the hall outside, heard through the door like it wasn't there at all.  There were people talking out there, more of that excitement, just waiting.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

"I told you not to bring any friends!" Kiyoshi snapped, because fuck everything, nothing about this was okay and it was spiraling very quickly out of control.  He moved towards Heather, and Eli didn't seem to move more than a few millimeters forward (physically, at least), but that darkness superimposed over him?

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

"Close your eyes, sweetheart," Eli told Heather, voice calm and somehow heard plainly over the rising din in the room even as that darkness shot forward with a shriek like a hawk mingled in with nails on a chalkboard, and it went straight at Kiyoshi.  The front door slammed open and a wave of cold washed into the room behind that spectral manifestation of Eli's rage and determination, and he smiled, looking strangely zenned out as the voices, brief impressions of bodies and faces swept past him. 

"I didn't.  I brought your friends."

[Eli Sterling]

seek and you may find

The panic that had come from Liam's first word being 'Eli' (he'd smiled because how could he not, but frozen and finally told Liam that they 'weren't going to tell Mommy about that one'; the child hadn't gotten the hint, and had 'told' as soon as he saw Heather) was nothing compared to the realization he had waiting when he came home and dropped his bag in a rush to deal with the oncoming blonde before she knocked him on his ass in the snow behind him.  He wasn't kidding when he said he missed her as well, absorbing the details she rained on him and then taking the moment to twirl her around so that he could see her new dress, but the first of many realizations was the date.

"Christ, it's Valentine's Day."  He felt like a moron, but he'd literally been flying for two days.  He wasn't even sure how he felt about it, but then he noticed the sushi and hell yes, he was hungry.  She made fantastic sushi.

Dinner was the easy part, which was rather unsurprising.  It was delicious, it was the second necessary thing to making him feel more energized again (the shower had helped), and the company was as radiant as usual, so it was a very pleasant affair.  It was the conversation that came afterward that was dangerous, and he realized that (the second harsh one of the evening, for those keeping count, and they were getting trickier) without being able to do anything to save himself or her from it.  He wouldn't lie, though.

What he'd said to Kiyoshi, he'd meant.  She wanted confirmation of that, and he gave it to her, but he couldn't give her confirmation that her husband was dead and not coming back.  He'd tried to find that bastard because if there was one spirit out there that he could have tethered to her to keep her safe, it was Harvey's, but he was nowhere to be found.  Even at his strongest, riding the biggest power high he'd had, he hadn't found Harvey out there.  That meant one of two things - either Harvey had died and moved on to Heaven, Hell, wherever spirits who are at rest go (Eli dealt with the earthbound, so he didn't know what lay beyond, either), or he wasn't dead.  Based on what he knew of Harvey's former life and team, he had faith that the man was alive, and perhaps he was just a little afraid to assume that he was dead and be wrong.  He'd gotten attached, so very hopelessly attached to Heather and little Liam, but he'd tried to remind himself over and over that Harvey would be back and that he'd be taking his family back.  Eli was setting himself up for failure, and that was not something that he did.

It was trying to explain to her that he wanted all that she was offering, all that seemed so perfectly laid before him, right at his fingertips, but that he knew he couldn't have it because it wasn't his to have that became the difficulty.  He didn't want her to cry, but it was inevitable, and if she thought that he was ever going to leave her to suffer emotionally, she was insane.  He'd been there all this time, had lifted her up from the moment she fell to the ground outside that appointment before Liam was born, and he held her now while she shed her tears against his chest where, again, she couldn't see his face.  The first time, he'd been angry at Harvey for not being back soon enough, irritated at having to take up a post that he would no doubt take ridiculous flack for, but now?  Now, he was at war with himself, and reason was losing to pure honesty.  His lips parted, he hesitated and licked them, closed his mouth, then started to speak again.  This was the third realization.

He loved her.  Fuck everything, it had been two years and he'd been run over the coals keeping her safe and carefully building her back up into a healthy individual.  Was she even the same person Harvey had left?  Would Harvey be in any condition to come back, assuming he was still alive, after two years wherever he was?  Was it even realistic that he was still alive and sane at this point?  Perhaps Eli had given that crazy bastard too much credit, and he'd just gone on to the next plane, beyond even Eli's reach.  He was denying himself, Heather and Liam the family they all deserved, that they'd been building despite his best intentions, for no reason.  Harvey wasn't coming back.

Eli parted his lips once more to speak, ignoring her phone as surely as she seemed to be until she cursed and went for it, and then he didn't speak.  The fourth realization was that Harvey was alive, and the fifth and most painful?

He should have spoken up, should have stopped her before she answered and said his piece, because when she gave him the news that they'd found him and he was alive, all Eli could do was smile and be there for her, just like he always was.  In the wake of that news, he wasn't actually certain what to do, what she wanted, but he knew that he wouldn't be staying the night.  They were bringing Harvey home because it was that team of his that had found him and they could rush things in ways that guilds and authorities wouldn't.  Unless she wanted him to stay for some kind of emotional support, he had no place here.

"What do you want me to do?" he finally asked, his expression unreadable and totally left for her to decide.  Stay or go, however much he hated this.  It felt like goodbye.

It still felt like goodbye when she'd told him that she didn't know, when she'd gone to him and he'd held her, even when she leaned up and kissed him full on the lips for the first time.  It didn't feel like a revelation.  It still felt like goodbye.  He'd never been kissed with so much feeling and so much finality in his life, and if it never happened like that again, he would still say it had been one time too many.

When Harvey arrived, he was still there, but it was mostly to gauge the man's demeanor and danger level.  That the hunter came in and instantly scooped his wife up into his arms, ignoring the many details that Eli was too shrewd to think he'd missed (including Eli's own presence) and actually crying, made him think that leaving was a good idea.  Even after he'd released her and had more time to absorb his surroundings if he'd missed it the first time around, he didn't bring it up.  He just seemed thrilled to see her, willing to deal with anything that wasn't his wife later, and yep.  Eli caught her eye and inclined his head, offered a short goodbye to Kes and John (Emile?  Fucker was giving him the stink-eye) and then pulled his jacket on.  He had too many of his things in his room upstairs because he only really seemed to keep his own place for some way to say that he hadn't entirely moved in with Heather all this time, so he'd be back.  Tonight would be spent away, where he wouldn't have to factor into her worries.

Getting an armed escort out to his car wasn't expected, but he unlocked it, opened the door and turned around, not at all surprised.  "Problem?"

"Not currently.  Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

Eli stared a moment, made some short, rude little laugh, and shook his head.  He was actually being threatened?  "You get credit, people don't try that often."

"Can't imagine why not."  It didn't sound sarcastic.

"Let's keep that 'that way', too," Eli shot back, smirking some.  He didn't know what entirely 'Emile' could do, but he knew he wasn't normal.  He didn't want to find out who would best who, but he was very confident in himself.  Of course, so was Emile, who snorted and otherwise just kept staring.  "You're a creepy fucker."

Antagonistic comment dropped, Eli gave him a very fake smile, a short wave and got into his car.  No sense causing a scene for Heather to deal with tonight.  He had a feeling those would come sooner rather than later, anyway.

[Eli Sterling]

firefly could you shine your light

It was pretty impossible for someone else to metaphorically put themselves in Eli's shoes, though little Liam had fit his tiny feet into the actual shoes once and then stumbled and fell through the living room until the man had come over and held his hands so he could walk to mommy in his big shoes.  Memories of silly little things like that clung to the inside of Eli's mind after Harvey returned, while he was enduring the awkwardness of continuing to be around for Heather and Liam's sake despite Harvey's presence.  It wasn't cool to just vanish out of Liam's life, and Heather...Eli honestly couldn't tell what she wanted, but among the memories he couldn't shake was that damn kiss, her desperation after Harvey had vanished, her depression, and he couldn't just disappear.  That would be cruel.

No, nobody could really put themselves where he was or understand what exactly he was going through here, but he was fine with that.  He was used to having a unique perspective on things, had always seen things differently, and in a way, he meant that literally.  When he looked at the world, he saw what everyone else did, and then he saw another layer.  It was like laying a transparency sheet down over an opaque one, adding details and colors that hadn't been on the first.  Perhaps that was another reason why he lingered, however painful it was to realize that he was unwanted in this man's household every time Liam called, 'ELI!' where 'DADDY!' would have been more appropriate. 

When he'd told Kiyoshi how special Heather was, then repeated it for Heather herself the night Harvey had returned, he hadn't been kidding.  She was beautiful in a way that few women were, and though he had broken it down into an impressively poetic bit about multiple qualities that he loved in her, they all melded into the most beautiful display he could recall seeing.  It was something that he could never describe to her properly, and so he'd never tried.  He'd offered things she could understand, but if she could see what he saw, as cliched as that sounded, she'd never doubt why he thought she was so lovely.

She'd always had this bit of a golden glow to her, though in her darker days, it had waned to a point that had scared him so badly that he knew he had no choice but to do something to help her, but right before Harvey had gotten home, it had reached a point that had impressed even him.  He'd certainly complimented her new dress, which was truly lovely on her, but she could have been wearing sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt and he still would have been taken aback.  It was a warmth, that glow of hers, with the impression of feathers and, if he caught her at just the right angle of movement or perhaps from the right angle of a glance on his part, a stretch of graceful wings.  He understood the why of it, that she was a shapeshifter and an avian, but he'd seen other shapeshifters and it was different.  He'd never believed in angels, but he could have passed her a stranger on the street and gone home satisfied with having seen one.  The night he'd stood in his snowy coat and boots, exhausted from too many layovers and flights, and twirled her around, she was all wings and a warm golden light that had drawn him in so completely that forgetting the date was the least of his problems.

Fitting that, just a short time later, he should be reminded that it wasn't his.  It was hard, knowing that she belonged to another man, one who loved and appreciated her, but could never see what Eli saw.  Harvey would never see what Heather really was, no matter how much he loved her or how well he thought he knew her.  That was Eli's own personal pleasure, and torment.

He still couldn't find it in himself to regret it, but it meant that when she moved to ignoring him completely, which had the metaphysical equivalent of dimming that glow and hiding herself away from him, denying him, he sure as hell noticed.  She could pretend that nothing had changed all she wanted, but he knew that he wasn't imagining things because he remembered her glow.

Harvey was with Liam, a man-trip to the park or something that Eli had caught wind of, and he wasn't supposed to be at her house at that time of day, but he'd shown up anyway and let himself in.  He wasn't even entirely sure how he wanted to address this problem, just that he was going to hit it head-on, right up until he went looking for her and found her...napping.  He stopped, stared for a moment, then shrugged and went out to lay down on the couch.  Chasing after a toddler was enough work on top of his own job, not to mention the strangeness with Heather, that he dropped off quickly, and he'd always been very good at lucid dreaming.  Finding her dreams in an otherwise empty house like she'd once done to him wasn't terribly difficult, picking his way barefoot through the quiet house that took on more of the impression of a forest as he went in search of her firefly's glow.

Perhaps this was for the best, since in a dream, he could approach her sideways, worry about actions instead of words so much.  He found her resting beneath the branches of a huge, dark tree, and he approached quietly, watching the branches like he didn't trust them.  All he did when he stopped by her feet was offer his hand and make eye contact, silently begging for her to light up again for him, and when she accepted?  He pulled her to her feet and away from that shaded area, out into the golden forest beyond in which she belonged, and though at first it was more like he was running and pulling her along, they reached a point where there was no actual attempt to get anywhere.  Their running turned more into dancing, and where he'd started out only holding one of her hands in his, he found one arm wrapped around her back as their bodies faced each other.  The movement didn't cease, but her mind supplied the music, sounds of nature and perhaps a distant tune that she enjoyed, and he didn't disagree.  His dreams were dark, so to be surrounded by her bright forest and her golden warmth was all that he wanted right then. 

[Eli Sterling]

think outside the box

One of the best ways, Eli had found, of getting past your problems?  Work.  Hard-fucking-work.  Fortunately, there was never really any lack of work he could do, as long as he was willing to take what he was being offered.  Usually, he was a downright picky bastard because he could afford to be; when you got results like he did, you could pick and choose what you did.  Usually, he avoided anything that involved depending on others too much, just because he wasn't the most trusting and he'd found that people would let him down more often than not.  This time proved no different from his expectations, and as the 'team leader' came rushing towards them, all urgency and an expression that immediately put Eli on edge, he pulled himself right up in line with the man's step.

"What happened?"

"We're pulling out, mission's compromised."

"Don't give me that shit, everyone else's part went off without a hitch.  I had the hardest job here, it's done."

"The mission is compromised, Sterling.  We have to get out of here or we're all dead," Michaels snapped and though Eli wanted to push the subject, he liked surviving.  He wasn't finished.

They all, without wasting time with the questions they all had, moved their collective asses to clear a path to a helicopter, and their pilot had them off the ground in record time, but Eli wasn't banking on it being enough.  Shit was going to get worse, he had that feeling in his gut, and fuck Michaels for wanting to keep secrets.  "There's a serious fucking chance we don't make it out of here, so while we're all stuck here with our thumbs up our asses, why don't you tell us what the fuck you did?"

Not his most eloquent bit, but there was a time and a place for everything, and as their pilot announced the pursuit, this seemed like a damn good place for it.  Michaels didn't respond, but his second did.  Eli was already walking at a hunch towards the cockpit area to try to get a grip on how screwed they were, but he hesitated and glanced back as Franklin spoke up.  "You went for him, didn't you?"

"Say what?"

"Bad blood, we lost men."

"Franklin, shut the fuck up."

"No, Franklin, you keep talking," Eli instructed calmly, drawing his gun very suddenly and pointing straight at Michaels.  If they were all going to die, he was making sure Michaels went first.  That, or maybe he'd wound him instead, just to make sure it hurt worse.

"We were all dealing with it, it was only a rumor the old target would be there!"

"Franklin, he's not one of us, shut the fuck up."

"Gentlemen, we've progressed past 'company' and they're sniffing at our asses," the pilot announced, and Eli made a face that included almost a baring of teeth and his obvious anger, but priorities.

"I really want to shoot you," he snarled at Michaels, but he holstered the gun and went for the co-pilot's seat, checking out the radar and then trying for visuals.  He didn't honestly know if what he was trying would even work, but he remembered talking to Heather about it and it was worth a fucking try.

He hated those stupid ghost shows because they were usually bogus, or the people on them had hit a real haunting and botched it, but Heather very quickly learned to enjoy them because she essentially had a cheat sheet sitting beside her; Eli could see and hear things on even recordings that other people and equipment had missed, and if they both put out a little effort and concentration, he could sometimes help her see and hear it, too, even if it wasn't as clear.  It was during one of these episodes that she asked about the ghost's seeming ability to interfere in electronic equipment.

"Can they really do that?"

"What?  Break up signals?  A lot of supernatural things can.  Most 'magic' has some sort of energy to it, and that seems to interact with electricity.  Some spirits try to drain energy because they don't have enough, and some put out large amounts suddenly because they don't like having that shit there.  Draining or blasting the equipment could mess it up."

"Can you do that?"

"Blast electronics?"

"Yeah?"

"...I don't know, actually.  Never really tried it," he told her, actually considering it.  It seemed plausible, if he could maintain concentration, to scramble the picture on a camera, but it would take a lot of juice to overload a system, especially to completely fry it.  "Not sure it'd be worth the effort, but I'll tell you how it goes if I get a chance to do it.  Sound good?"

"Sure!  I'd be interested in that."

He suddenly found himself just as interested as Heather had been, only in a less curious manner and more of an 'oh-god-oh-god-we're-all-gonna-die' kind of way, but there was no time for doubt or panic.  "Here goes nothing," he murmured, ignoring the pilot who asked what he was talking about, and closed his eyes to try to tune out everyone else.  The white noise of the chopper itself helped, and as soon as he got a mental read on bodies in one of the birds behind them, he tried to build a mental picture of the helicopter itself.  Once he took the three or so seconds to really absorb, it was all just a different kind of electric signal than he was used to picking up, which was a good sign.  He let out a long breath, nice and slow, and pretended that he was blasting the fuck out of some nasty that had walked its ass into his home.  Whether or not it had done anything to the chopper, he sure as hell knew the blow had landed, just because of the sudden lightheadedness on his part.  Hearing the pilot suddenly flipping shit about one of their tails (which had just opened fire on them) suddenly dropping into a spin and falling from the sky was pretty damn satisfying.  Also encouraging.

Also?  The other bird was shooting at them.  Shooting and hitting.

"Have you ever heard of defensive flying?" Eli shouted over the alarms going off because they'd been shot, trying to regain his bearings and then closing his eyes again.  Obviously, he had to do everything.  He was taking a hell of a fucking nap if they survived this.

It took a few precious seconds longer than the first time, mostly because his brain was not in a hurry to do that again, to lock on, but he did.  Same as before, he used the live bodies as something to tune into, and then widened his scope to include the machine.  As soon as he had it, he drew in a breath, let it out nice and slow, and swung.  Again, there was the connect, but he might have slipped off for a second in there, because he tuned back into his own reality to hear people cursing and screaming, Michaels shouting about how they could be going down if both of the choppers were gone, the pilot fighting with the controls and seeming to have difficulty not calling Michaels an idiot for asking, and Eli just groaned and started fumbling with his harness. 

"Seatbelts, everybody," he muttered, not even caring at that point if they heard him, because he was sure as hell getting his on.  It was a good thing he heard it click when he did, because his migraine piqued and knocked his ass out before they hit the ground.  The last thing he saw was white, and it was getting a hell of a lot closer hella fast.

Ironically, the first thing he saw was also white, but that was because every fucking thing in that direction was white.  As soon as he turned his head (which he instantly regretted, by the way), he saw blood (his own on the snow where his head had been resting), more blood, a busted damn helicopter around him, some fire and hey, look at that, more blood.  He groaned, trying to take stock of his own injuries quickly before he potentially moved and fucked something up, so he was careful when he got up.  He didn't even try to reach out mentally, his head already sore enough.  "Role call, who's alive?" he called out, his head throbbing harder with the effort it took to yell.

"Sterling?" someone called out, and he glanced up to see the pilot standing in the snow outside the window.

"Fuck you, I said alive!  I can see your ass from here!" he snapped, and yes, he was usually nicer to confused dead things, but damn it, he'd almost been there himself.  He'd been like two feet from the pilot and he was pretty sure he'd have been scraped across the snow and rock beside the guy if he hadn't managed that seatbelt at the last second.  Of course, his entire torso was on fire where it was holding him suspended sideways in his seat.  He was also covered in glass, which only rocked harder when he shakily unbuckled the harness and fell into the glass and snow.  Yay, more bleeding.  He righted himself with minimal bitching, peeking back into the remains of the helicopter behind him and wincing at some of what he saw.  There were broken people back there, though unless he had a concussion and had forgotten how to count, they weren't all there.  Didn't matter, there was room for more to have gone through the windshield.  Hell, maybe someone even survived.

He had to be very careful not to do himself in on the glass as he crawled out the busted windshield (trying to climb up to the door past the pilot's seat would have been much less direct and more retarded; Eli regularly tried not to do things that he considered to be on the same level as a mentally handicapped person), and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he stopped there on his ass in the snow and just tried to get a grip on what the fuck state his world had landed itself into and just how fucking lucky he was that he'd survived.  That was when he heard something breathing heavily, and felt a cold metal object against his skull.  Without reaching out with his mind, he'd have guessed a gun held by someone standing up based on the angle and placement, and he'd have guessed Michaels because of the voice and choice in greeting.  Of course that would be who survived.

"I kinda want to shoot you right now." 

"Huh.  Then you're about half as pissed off as I was a little while ago.  Give me a minute to breathe, bet I'll be able to double where I was," he quipped with a short laugh, surprisingly light for the fact that someone who really fucking didn't like him had a gun to his head and no reason not to shoot him.  Michaels didn't know it, but story of his life.

[Eli Sterling]

it's 3am, i must be lonely

A little over twenty years ago, Charles Sterling and his moderately attractive wife sat in an office in a hospital, signing the papers to hand over their only son to the care of the man sitting opposite them.  None of the three adults in that room meant any harm, and in fact, had decent intentions if you ignored the fact that the parents had decided that their child was 'mentally unstable' and didn't want to deal with it, and that the doctor who would be treating him was old and had long ago decided that the people who came in were already too far gone for the hospital staff to do more for them than make them comfortable.  It happened occasionally, a person becoming well and being returned to society, but not often enough.  Despite his claimed optimism, he didn't expect this boy to be recovering from whatever plagued his mind.

He was right.

Eli wasn't intentionally mistreated by any of the adults that were responsible for him at any time, but just because it wasn't intentional didn't mean that it didn't leave its mark; the medication Dr. Gaines prescribed him made him slow and damaged his focus, which did nothing to help his situation and simply left him exposed and unable to deal with the things he saw, felt and heard.  In a mental hospital, there are a lot of unhappy, confused and generally unfriendly ghosts, and that was where Eli learned that illnesses of the mind didn't necessarily just evaporate away when someone died.  After a few sleepless nights of screaming and trying to fend off invisible people and shadows with levels of desperation only increasing with the dosage, Dr. Gaines decided that particular prescription was not working and switched to something with a different effect.  This one technically had an opposite effect, still destroying his focus, but stimulating his brain to the point that he essentially put out a beacon to everything in the area.  He became very popular among the 'dead and invisible' crowd from that point forward, and though he did learn a thing or two about making them keep a respectable distance (some of them, others were pushier), it was also extremely unpleasant.

Fortunately for Eli, it brought him to the attention of someone who had an idea what was going on.  She was a nurse, believe it or not, and old enough that she'd seen quite a few types of patient come through.  Most were crackpots, but as she sat with him in the dayroom one day and explained, some just had gifts that were confused for curses by people who didn't understand them.  She didn't have the ability to see what he did, but she could recognize power when she saw it, and she noticed the spiritual energy that flocked to him in that place.  It didn't take much of a leap of logic on her part to take what he told her, look at the patient record and put it all together with what she knew.  It took a little while for him to learn a bit of control over something that he didn't understand and that, especially after his stay there and the things he'd encountered, legitimately terrified him, but she tried to keep him focused even when his dosage was up.  In fact, she adjusted her schedule to his so that she could help him skip his before-bed pill, since overnights tended to be worse - 3am in any hospital was brutal, and he couldn't be off his game at that time, not anymore.  Enough damage had been done.

It took almost two months of him faking that it was all gone with her help to hold off what Dr. Gaines called 'his episodes', but he learned.  The less medication he was on, the more he could work through whatever came at him, and he was learning to be quiet and subtle so as to avoid attention for it.  When he was released, he wasn't 'cured', but he'd learned how to tell a hell of a lie, and he had the advantage of some actual control.  It still took years of working at it, but it only took getting out of that place once to assure him that he never wanted to go back.  Control, understanding and focus were necessary.

Anyone who'd met Eli after that point would never have believed he'd had a stay in a mental hospital, and though it had nearly destroyed his ability to join the military, he'd had a very thorough examination and the military psychiatrist seemed to think that it was some childish game or whatever, especially considering he hadn't been on any medication for it since and had developed into an intelligent, stable young man.  He still hated hospitals.

It was all hospitals, and though he'd been taken apart and nearly killed in that terrorist hidey-hole in Russia, he still didn't want to be in the hospital.  Fortunately, he wasn't given much choice in the matter because he'd been too badly injured to argue, and someone else was watching his back.  Claudia had stayed with him on the flight to the hospital and then through the doctor's work to stabilize him because, even nearly comatose, he was absolutely aware of what was happening around and to him.  There was no passing out during rescue and then waking up weeks later on the mend, not really, and though he certainly drifted off into true sleep after the initial excitement, he was still psychically very aware.  He just couldn't wake up, which meant that he stayed put.  The doctors didn't seem to expect him to be up and consistently awake for quite some time, so after a blonde man had come to visit the guild on what he called 'other business' (his credentials were such that nobody could question pretty much anything he wanted to do) and Eli mysteriously made a full recovery, they were both baffled and suspicious.  Even the rather extensive damage to his heart and nervous system from being electrocuted to death, not to mention nearly bleeding out on top of that, seemed to magically disappear.  They kept him in bed to 'rest' for a few days.

Truly, one of the last people he expected as a visitor was 'Desmond', who Eli knew as James, but the name wasn't the part that mattered.  It was the man's presence itself.  "You're still here, are you?"

"Yeah, the doctors don't get it, but I'm supposed to be resting so that I don't collapse on the plane, or something," Eli returned, annoyed by it, but he had plans to cut their prescribed bed rest time down significantly.

"Well, suppose there's nothing to be done for it, doctor's orders and all," Desmond returned, taking a seat and looking around.  "Room's not too shabby, for Russia.  Don't get hurt in Asia, it's not pretty."

"Wasn't planning on it.  Why are you still here?"  Eli?  Not stupid.  He and Harvey's team had never been close, though he'd helped out here and there from whatever angle his agency was working.  Now that the team was out of the mix and had all retired, Eli didn't have anything to do with them, so while he appreciated Heather getting Harvey to bring them in for a rescue, he was confused about the continued presence.

"Wanted to check in on you.  Had a friend send a friend in to give you a bit of a boost to your, ah, immune system.  Didn't expect quite the boost you got, but I hear he's not the sort to half-ass anything, so there you have it," the Brit who wasn't just the cocky bastard he seemed offered, and Eli watched him carefully.  It was no secret between them that neither of them took the other at face value, but they didn't talk about it.  Eli knew that Desmond was something very magical and potentially dangerous, and Desmond knew that Eli could read all of that; the psychic also wasn't confused in the slightest by his disguises, which was impressive because Desmond was incredible at what he did.

"Why would you do that?"

"Why not?  You helped my good friend Harvey out," he pointed out, and the way he said it, it seemed like it really was as simple as that.  "AND, you weren't a dick about it when he got back.  There's the real trick, darling.  Might have also been a little hard on you all this time.  Consider it thanks and an apology rolled into one, yeah?"

Eli stared at him, taken slightly off-guard by the open honesty out of someone that he didn't know to be direct by nature or personality, but he nodded.  "Yeah, sure.  Thanks, and apology accepted, I guess.  You didn't strike me as the guardian angel type, to be honest."

"Oh, I'm not," Desmond said, smiling suddenly and standing, though he glanced towards the door, then back to Eli.  "But she seems to be.  Fair warning, consider it free advice, but if you bound her?  Make sure you never lose your grip, because it'll be the death of you."

"Wait, what?  Bound who?"

"That reaper you got in your pocket.  Binding them is a tricky business, and it never ends well," Desmond informed him, strangely serious, and Eli continued to look at him like he was speaking another language.

"I didn't bind her."

"Reapers don't get sweet on people, Eli.  You're quite handsome, but they don't care about that.  You should have been dead, but instead I drop in there and your pretty little reaper has cleared the place out for us and is helping you out.  I'm sure she didn't break any rules killing those people because they would have died when we went in there, but at least one person who wasn't supposed to die that day did, because you lived.  The doctors can call it a miracle all they want, but I know a reaper when I see one and they don't sit out in a hospital waiting area or by someone's bedside for all the world to see.  She's visible, to everyone."

Eli continued to stare at him, though he certainly looked like he was putting together everything Desmond said and trying to puzzle it out.  "I didn't bind her, Desmond.  I didn't ask her to come to me.  You and your team were my best and only bet," he pointed out.

"Well, sadly, we were too late.  Or, we should have been.  If you didn't bind her and she's looking after you out of the goodness of her heart, then appreciate it for what it is.  They don't do that.  Be careful," Desmond said by way of parting, then managed a smile that didn't reach his eyes and took his leave.  Eli was left with his thoughts, and there was plenty to work out, more than the Brit who'd just left knew.

Eli had always hated hospitals, and for good reason.  There were dead souls lingering in them that didn't know where to go, and Eli had a shine to him that they all liked to come to.  3am in any hospital was brutal, that being the actual witching hour and when spirit activity was known to kick up because they were at their strongest then, and if Eli was in a hospital, he couldn't possibly be at his best.  He looked over at the clock as Desmond's words hung in the air around him and Claudia silently entered, and it was only the Brit's memory and the reaper herself around him.  The clock read 3:47, and Eli had a strange sense of peace, almost like being at home.  The look he gave Claudia was curious, but he smiled. 

[Eli Sterling]

devil in the details

Details.  It was all about the details and this wasn't something that Eli didn't understand, but it was a problem he was currently having and, for lack of a better way of dealing with it, trying to ignore.  In general, he'd learned that ignoring problems, especially metaphysical ones, did not make them go away, but there was no good way of dealing with Lucifer except crossing your fingers and hoping for a miracle.  Eli wasn't a religious guy or a praying man, but he was strongly considering it when his phone rang with an unfamiliar number and he heard Lucifer's gravelly, stolen voice on the other end.  "Come find me at your earliest convenience," he instructed, and Eli wasn't fool enough to think that he actually meant anything other than 'make it convenient quickly', despite the politeness of the not-request.  The human simply agreed and they hung up, but maybe it was for the best that Claudia had talked him into skipping that job and staying with her, not that he'd had second thoughts, anyway.  It just meant that now he didn't have to hop a flight and abandon what he was doing, since he was still in town. 

No, he just had to crawl out of bed, which was actually more difficult that it sounded, considering who was wrapped up in his arms.  Eli loved about as easily as he prayed, which was to say he didn't, not until lately.  If he'd consciously thought about that, he might have worried about a potential onset of religion or enough desperation to prompt a call for help from a higher power, but he'd somehow managed to fall for two ladies in recent times.  That he'd fallen for Heather first and been forced to push it aside when her husband returned didn't make the Claudia situation any easier, considering how abnormal that relationship had been; he'd essentially picked up her pieces and put them back together for her, played husband and father, only to be denied the things he needed.  That he'd voluntarily been cut loose to make way for Harvey to reclaim his life didn't make it any easier knowing that he came in as the runner-up, as usual.  Doing the right thing didn't always feel right at the time, and sometimes downright sucked.

Claudia, whether she realized the extent or not, was throwing her lot in with damaged goods, especially on an emotional level.  Eli was usually very well-protected emotionally because he didn't get attached to people and things, so he could usually be a dick or make the difficult decisions; he didn't care on a deeper level than the obvious logic in a situation, but the few people he loved?  They messed him up pretty hardcore, which was exactly why Claudia had gone to kick Heather into shape about stringing him along; he wouldn't have done it for himself, just like he hadn't ever made a move on either woman on his own.  For someone who could be so aggressive and insensitive usually, he was surprisingly careful with them, and most of that was his own issues.  True, he didn't want to make them uncomfortable if they weren't interested, but it took a ridiculously obvious move out of Claudia to make him realize what she wanted, and that was after Lucifer had made her human and more accessible.  Without either factor, it never would have gotten through to him that she could be interested in him.  It was hard to imagine, but the 'unwanted' feeling that had plagued him up until he'd left his hometown had left its mark.  Even as an adult, he wasn't a 'keeper', though there were a few women out there that could appreciate his brand of assholery in small doses.  He dated, but since he never got attached, none of them ever saw enough of the man that Heather and Claudia had to make them want to stick around.  How those two women had gotten in close enough was anyone's guess, but it had happened.

Naturally, that meant that both situations were likely doomed.  Heather's husband had come back and Eli had backed off, and he had Lucifer himself interfering in the situation with Claudia; if both of them survived this whole thing long enough to pursue a real relationship, it would be some kind of miracle.

It took some delicate maneuvering to slip free of the blankets and Claudia's warmth without waking her, but he was surprisingly good at 'delicate'.  Despite the big boss' instructions, he lingered long enough for a shower, fresh clothing and something to eat, not certain how long it would be until he got back home, but he might have been stalling in case Claudia woke up with perfect timing again.  He wouldn't wake her up himself, but reassuring her that it was all fine would have doubled nicely as reassurance for himself.  Without someone to convince, he was free to doubt the mess he was walking into and his own ability to deal with it.  He left her a note to let her know that his debt had been called in, leftovers were in the fridge and that she shouldn't worry if he ran late getting home, hoped that he'd managed to fill those words with enough confidence to be convincing, and grabbed up the bag of gear that was still by the door where he'd left it the following evening.  He didn't foresee needing clothing or toiletries, but body armor and weapons?  Quite possibly.  He just wasn't wearing any of it in to talk to Lucifer, just in case that bastard took it to be a challenge; he didn't want it proven that weapons or body armor wouldn't do him any good, especially prematurely.

He wasn't sure if he should be surprised or not when he arrived at the Lounge and Lucifer wasn't there, but Papa Aristide sure as hell was; Eli had to give that creepy bastard credit, since basically the biggest bad out there was using his home as a base of operations and he didn't look like his feathers were all that ruffled.  It was either impressive or insanity.  Aristide, for his part, gestured that Eli take a seat rather calmly, though his eyes flicked down to a pocketwatch he pulled from his jacket for a moment.  "Not much time t'talk freely, mon ami, but you listen careful t'what ah say."

"You have my attention," Eli offered, taking that seat and furrowing his brows a bit.  Was this a mutiny?  Oh, he hoped so.

"He ain't a liar.  What he says is all trut', so he'll evade if he don't wanna say somet'in'.  I let 'im out his cage downstairs t'fight de madness dat's comin', but we gotta put 'im back when it ends."

"No shit.  Cage?  How the hell does he possess people and fuck shit up from a cage?"

"People are fools, dey can call some piece of 'im up, but most'a de time, it ain't him.  Demons are liars, but he can't."

"Demons, why not.  Makes sense they exist, too."

"Dey jus' be spirits torn raw," Papa told him, watching him carefully for a few seconds before pulling a cigar out of his jacket and going about the motions necessary for lighting it.  Eli's eyes narrowed once more, considering that, but the man continued talking.  "If you wanna go back t'dat life you're buildin' so hard, you find a way t'lock 'im back up."

"Wait, hold on," Eli interjected, waving his hands and laughing in a way that suggested nothing was funny about this.  "Why is it up to me to lock him up when you're the one who let him out?"

"'Cause you be de one who made it possible for mah brotha t'let de old ones outta de deep.  You got power, use it."

"What?  Even if I knew what the fuck you were talking about, I sure as hell don't have the kind of power you'd need to put him back," Eli snapped, not liking that he was being blamed or that fixing it was being dropped on him.  As far as he could see, there wasn't much he could do without risking Claudia, so it didn't seem all that possible for him to do what Papa was suggesting. 

"You t'ink dat now, but you'll see.  Work smart," he suggested, then smiled past the smoke from his cigar and shooed Eli away from the table. 

Frustrated with the lack of solid answers from someone who sure as hell sounded like he was on the same side, Eli glared at the man and stood, though he pointed a finger at the hoodoo priest and snapped, "I don't like you."

Papa just laughed, the sound deep and thunderous as it followed Eli into the back room that Lucifer seemed so fond of to await the bastard's appearance.  He didn't wait long, but it was enough time that Eli wasn't quite as frustrated any longer and was back to being nervous and cautious by the time the stolen body appeared in the room, throwing a near-dead creature to the floor at Eli's feet.  He knew as soon as Lucifer had appeared because there was an aura of power and a light to him that Eli had never seen before, but the monster was a little distracting, as was obvious by the way the psychic jumped backwards, watching it for signs of a threat.  "Whoa!  What the fuck?"

"Your reflexes are good," Lucifer observed, a cocky smirk that looked quite comfortable on that face going along with the comment, but he directed his attention back to the creature.  "Look at it, tell me what you see beyond the exterior."

Eli shot the 'boss' a sharp look, not okay with his method of working or with being ordered around about his ability (he never let people know about it, so they couldn't tell him to do things usually).  "Uhhhhhhoookay," he dragged out, blinking down at the thing and trying to work past the fact that it looked like some kind of vaguely humanoid squid monster with great big things that he assumed were eyes and tentacles both as limbs and around its mouth, which wasn't entirely squid-like.  He would have called it 'Lovecraftian' if he hadn't known that was impossible and if he hadn't been told to look past that, though it was difficult to.  That image was pretty distracting.  "Nothing I've ever seen before, what am I looking for?"

"Look deeper."

He rolled his eyes, but knelt near the thing and hoped it didn't go all crazy with those tentacles.  There would be no touching because Eli wasn't in the habit of getting grabby with things that weren't of this world that he didn't know anything about, but proximity sometimes helped, if only for concentration.  He was actually inclined to insist that it wasn't anything familiar and that he didn't know what Lucifer wanted when he caught something, deep underneath the darkness and insanity that swirled around its being and made him feel a little twitchy in much the same way that mental hospitals did, if he were to get the effect of an entire hospital's spiritual fuckery in a single being.  Not cool.

"Uh, yeah, there's something, but it's deep underneath some seriously nasty shit and it's not a lot.  More like an aftertaste that doesn't fit the rest of the flavors," he tried to explain, which wasn't terribly easy.  One of the things about not telling people about his abilities was that he didn't have to explain foreign concepts. 

"Get a better taste of it."

"I really don't want to.  The upper layers are pretty damn bad," he pointed out, wanting to withdraw instead. 

"Do it, anyway," he was instructed, and the firm tone and very serious expression irritated Eli, but they didn't really allow for much argument unless he really wanted to fight about it, and it was one he'd lose.  He had to pick his battles carefully.

With a deep breath, he took that plunge again, eyes dipping shut with his concentration, and he only got a brief glimpse before whatever it was shifted into something other than the little boy with the dark eyes and the cat-like shriek, but he snapped back to himself with his eyes opening wide and backed off from it.  "Fuck," he hissed, and Lucifer smirked once more.

"Exactly.  So when I say that this is your doing, at least in part, you know I'm not lying," he started, and Eli nodded slightly.  He didn't know how, but it was true.  What Aristide had said about Lucifer not lying came to mind, but he didn't mention it.  "They don't have those souls within them, not really, so it's more like an aftertaste, like you said.  That's the power that was used to let them out, and more are coming as time passes.  Even trying to save the world, you assholes keep resisting me, so now we're running short on time.  Stand up, I got you a present."

Eli stood, but he watched the bastard carefully, not trusting him, to which Lucifer rolled green eyes that looked brighter with the bright light that Eli knew other people didn't see.  This was the archangel that was lauded as the most brilliant and beautiful, the Morningstar.  God's favorite, who refused to love humans more than his Father and was cast out for it.  On some level, Eli could believe it all because he'd never seen an aura (or whatever you wanted to call the power and glow he saw out of other beings) quite like that one.  This was definitely no demon, if he were to guess.  That didn't make him any less dangerous.  "Is it a 'present' that I want?  Everyone says I'm hard to shop for."

"I'm not asking," Lucifer replied smoothly, reaching out to touch Eli's shoulder and effectively bringing him to his knees without...actually doing anything.  Nothing that could be pinpointed, anyway.  He took a few steps back once he'd let go, once again observing.  "While you're down there, nudge our little friend here.  We'll call it an test run."

"What?" he asked, wincing because fuck his head hurt and he couldn't stop shaking, almost like he'd put his finger in a light socket.  All of his nerves were on fire, and though it had faded since the initial contact, he felt unsteady and twitchy.  Still, he reached out one trembling hand to just barely touch the monster on the floor.  It felt something like a shock of static electricity, and the thing was...gone.  The body was still there, but its spirit and the aftertaste of the revenant souls that had raised it was released with a sensation something like a rubberband breaking and allowing whatever it was holding to slowly fall open.  He was still very aware of its spirit in the air around him, but he gave it a mental push, not wanting it near him, and Lucifer started in with a slow clap that made Eli angry all over again.  "What was that?"

"I lent you some of your girlfriend's oomph.  You're not a reaper and you can't bring people back to life like she can, but you have her killing touch, so be careful who you let close."

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Because you do incredible things with spirits, and all I have to do is let you walk across a battlefield for you to turn their army into mine," the archangel explained, and that smirk was back in place.  "Make no mistake, this is a war and I need generals.  You've been promoted."

"Why am I not happy about this?"

"That's why I like you.  You're smart," he responded easily, then gave Eli a wave.  "Dismissed.  Go home, sleep, eat a bunch of carbs, whatever you do before a serious magical overhaul, but keep your phone nearby.  You don't want me to have to get in touch with you some other way.  Oh, and don't touch your pretty lady, because I'm not fixing her if you break her."

"I fucking hate you."  All about the details, and Eli hadn't been able to haggle about any of them.  It was the details that were going to screw him over.

"Sticks and stones, loverboy.  Go away before I change my mind."

[Eli Sterling]

double-edged sword

It was true that, on some level, the events of December 31st's last few hours were Eli's fault, but Claudia held at least some of the blame just for the effect she'd had on him after she'd shown up at his penthouse, alive and mortal.  It had taken time, just as anything involving emotions did for him, but she'd grown on him in a way that he hadn't ever really considered before; she was beautiful, he truly enjoyed her company, and he sealed his own fate once she kissed him and he kissed her back.  That didn't mean some ridiculous flurry of love and lust began because he was still slow to warm up and she didn't seem to be in any hurry to push the limits, but the usually sarcastic and cold operative that was Eli proved to be surprisingly affectionate and fond of just closeness in the time that had followed.  They grew more and more comfortable together the longer she stayed with him, human and delightful in her ability to slip past his guard and get him to play.  He didn't lighten up enough.

For that very reason, it was surprising to him that she didn't want to go to the masquerade that the guilds were putting on for New Years, and he probably should have taken that as a sign that they shouldn't go, but everyone made it clear that he had to show up and be social for a change.  He begrudgingly agreed, making it clear that he wasn't really in agreement that it would be as fun as they all said, but he was actually more interested in the idea than he let on for one very specific reason.

Claudia would be going with him, and she'd have to wear some ridiculous ballgown.  It would be awesome.

He didn't even make an attempt to hide the fact that her going and having to wear something like that was part of the reason he was so interested in attending, but he made it into a fun 'this I HAVE to see' kind of situation rather than the more serious desire he had to see her put together like that, or to have her on his arm.  The fact that he could show her off to the people he sometimes worked with when she was dressed in her best didn't hurt in the slightest (he so rarely had anything that he could show off), but he was being very selfish in his desire to see it and know that she was there with him.  It was all masculine and territorial, which wasn't usually his style, but how often did he really have something like this go his way?  Whatever it was, it mattered.

Obviously, he didn't tell her any of this.

Once she was in agreement that she was going, he joined her in the search for a dress and served as a 'hot or cold' kind of meter for her decision-making progress; she chose the black corset-style one that the saleslady had to help her into (and made it look much easier than it was when Eli had to help her later) after he'd openly stared and wasn't sure what to say.  Rendering a man like Eli speechless was always a good sign, though he didn't get to see it long enough before she vanished back into the dressing room, entirely satisfied, to remove it.  He was talked into a dressy ensemble of his own, which he chose to be all black to match hers, and they picked out black masks to go with it. 

His was on the simpler end of things, though it couldn't be too simple,mostly because he had a criticism for most of the others she'd seen and they all either looked like something a woman would wear or something from a comic book ("Am I going as Zorro?  A superhero?"), which actually had the opposite effect he wanted - she picked out a beautiful and intricate black mask to go with her dress very quickly, and the rest of the time was focused on his.  As much as he would have preferred skipping the shopping trip (except for seeing her in a lot of dresses that reminded him just how beautiful she was), they made a sharp pair once they'd dressed and shown up at the party.

As was only appropriate, he was more of an afterthought and an arm for her to anchor herself to as she made her appearance, and he was okay with that.  It was no real secret that Eli wasn't the best in social situations (he didn't actually like people as a general rule, and he didn't try too hard to hide that fact), and the people who liked him were usually intelligent or capable enough that he wasn't as much of a dick to them, so until they had him in a large group and he started getting a little anxious, and therefore aggressive, they didn't realize the mistake.  Fortunately, most of the people at this party were guild members, so they were capable and a little thicker-skinned, though Eli still didn't plan to stay long.  An hour and a half seemed appropriate enough to have a few drinks, see and be seen, and then take off without causing any real damage.  Getting home before Eli had enough to drink, or someone else did, for trouble was just a fantastic idea, especially considering the dangerous people that would be at that party and the kind of power Eli had behind him.  He didn't actually drink much or often, just because it opened up his mind and lowered his defenses.  Granted, he had enough control that it didn't leave him totally vulnerable like when he was younger, but any mind-altering substance could cause trouble for him. 

Whether they left on time or Claudia decided she was enjoying the attention and wanted to stay, he had a limit he didn't intend to pass, and he wasn't the only one.  The guild surgeon was holding a glass that it didn't seem he was putting much of a dent in as he eyed a young man in a deep red ensemble who'd bowed so dramatically as he'd taken the daughter's hand that Eli knew it had to be a joke even without seeing the smile on his face.  Not that it mattered, because the surgeon's daughter was totally taken in by the charming...feline (something with spots, Eli figured) and the man's date took that moment to take his hand and drag him away from the wall before he could put his foot down. 

As for Claudia, attention she was receiving.  Being the observant type that he was, Eli noticed other men (and women) looking to see who the gorgeous and pale young woman in black was, then trying to figure out who her date happened to be; since Eli didn't work consistently with the guilds, not everyone was able to place them, but he'd been to each building often enough that most of the people present thought he looked familiar.  Still, Claudia was the center of attention where they were concerned, and Eli merely smiled and nodded at those who admired.  A young man with a beautiful young brunette on his arm turned eyes so blue they practically had a light all their own on he and Claudia, then inclined his head just because he was too far away to truly say much, and Eli glanced past him to see Christian Shane of Frost with his wife with the younger couple. 

Not too far from the guild leader and his family was a small pack of what Eli pegged as wolves, the smallest of whom had obviously started in on the drinking early and was telling a human boy a story complete with ridiculous gestures while a mountain of a man cut in with something that prompted a glare from the smaller wolf and a laugh from the child.  Another large wolf was walking up to the group, gave the stunning dark-haired woman a twirl that made her laugh and the child shout something that was lost in the music and talk, which prompted the smallest male to throw his hands up over his story being interrupted again.  The only female wolf in the group thumped him in the arm as she passed him by, lead to the floor by her date, who was the most unusual of them all.  Eli wasn't sure what the guy was, but he got the impression of stripes, the color blue, and power, which he'd never seen before.  It was a strange mixture, but it was lost in the crowd of dancers just as quickly as he'd clued into it.

They all danced because Bruja, despite housing some of the most badass people you could meet, knew how to throw a party and wouldn't do so without ensuring that the impressive group dances wouldn't be neglected, but it didn't matter to Eli that he was surrounded by a number of very attractive women at their best; he had eyes for one, which wasn't much of a surprise after the dressing room, but she drew him in like a moth to the flame every time he glanced her way.  He knew that she received compliments from her dance partners when the two of them were pulled in opposite directions, and even he received compliments on her behalf from women he danced with.  He hadn't even had to dance with Shannon to hear her wolf-whistle as they walked by, which naturally got the attention of Lucio, the human who had his arm around the female tiger and the bird with the bright red hair.  Eli offered up a wave and pointed Shannon out to Claudia, who'd heard the whistle, but was no doubt taking in just as many crazy dresses and people as he was. 

Stavros Arun interrupted their people watching to introduce his wife, Alicia, who was beckoned off almost immediately after into a discussion with the Rashanas, who waved their hellos to Stav, Eli and Claudia, and after a moment of polite conversation, he requested Claudia for a dance.  It was impressive to Eli, who knew the kind of ruthless and lethal warrior the man could be, to so often see him as such a gentleman.  The Arun was much nicer to civilian women like Claudia than he was to hunters, though he and Eli had always gotten along well.  Neither of them took any shit, and Eli could be just as aggressive if Stav got irritable.  It worked out.  Despite being familiar with a lot of the right people in the guilds, Eli didn't even know most of the people here, to be honest, but there were people he considered friendly and Harvey himself had even come over to put an arm around his shoulder and squeeze him in something like a half hug, all excitement. 

"Dude, did you see Church?  I'm 99% sure he had the Juggernaut helmet in mind for that mask-thing, and all I can think is that it's awesome.  I hope I get to hear him tell someone he's the Juggernaut and call them a bitch, because that will make my night!  Anyway, look at you, man!  All dark and mysterious, I like it!  Claudia looks fantastic, Eli, really she does," he said, all big smiles underneath the golds and dark greens in his mask; Heather had worn a gold dress with dark green accents, so he'd worn a black suit with a gold-accented green vest and tie to match.  It suited both him and his wife, who were both so lively and, for lack of a better term, golden.  Bright. 

"I'm pretty sure I'd have to be blind to miss a guy the size of a Volkswagen, and his girlfriend's back on her pink rotation," he pointed out, though he smirked and scanned the crowd in case he could see the monument of a man until Harvey mentioned Claudia.  "Doesn't she?"

"Yeah, absolutely, but you cleaned up well, too!  Almost didn't recognize you two, Heather pointed you out," he offered, taking a sip of his drink and glancing out over the crowd and their respective women before he turned back to Eli.  "Listen, I'm happy for you, I really am.  You deserve someone as great as Claudia.  Hang onto her, you got me?"

"I'll do my best, thanks.  I could say the same about you and Heather," Eli returned, and he actually meant it, mostly because Harvey made Heather happy and Eli would never stop loving her completely.  It wasn't that he thought Harvey was a dick, but they really hadn't gotten along that well over the years.  Some of that tension seemed to have dissipated after Harvey returned and it became clear that Eli wasn't trying to compete with him for his wife's love after taking care of Harvey's family for almost two years, but Eli was just as slow to get used to it as he was to learn how to love someone.  Harvey had adapted much more quickly, and seemed determined to attempt some kind of amends for years of misunderstanding and hostility.

"Thanks, that's good to hear.  Aw, shit, that's my cue, gotta go," he said, finishing off his drink and setting it down on a surface nearby to head after Heather.  "Who the hell thought inviting Trick and Fury to a dressy event was a good idea?"

"Don't ask me, that's your leader's buddies," he called after Harvey, who snorted.  Even as they complained, Eli caught sight of Batten dragging Trick away from the bar while Capricia swatted the obviously drunk hunter on the back of the head, hard.  Trick didn't stand a chance.

"Pretty sure he wants to shoot them himself sometimes.  I'm gonna slip Fury a laxative if he doesn't get his hands off of Heather," he shot back, then disappeared into the crowd to go rescue his wife, and Eli wouldn't doubt the truth in his words.  Harvey wasn't the type to make idle threats, not with his background.  Eli took the other man's return to his lady to be a good time to do the same, but he hesitated as Skye, Nick LeCroix's wife and a Crimson sniper, sidled up beside him and he realized that she was solo for the moment because Nick had tapped in on a dance with Claudia.  Eli actually smirked a little as he caught sight of the two, mostly because Claudia and Skye weren't that different in size, and Nick was a very tall, very large man.

"You look amazing.  Having fun?" he asked her, mostly because he knew she was.  She looked pleased with the compliment, watching the crowd and laughing at a pair of hyenas (Eli could only actually pinpoint the 'feel' of a hyena because of Skye, to be honest) nearby who broke the general high-class atmosphere for a moment or so with some bumping and grinding before they both broke out into laughter of their own and the pretty blonde nearly tackled her date in a very involved kiss that ended with her still hanging around his neck.  He looked happy with the situation. 

"Not as much fun as Jason and Stella, I think, but yes.  You'll have to introduce me to your lovely date when Nick lets her go," she said, smiling from behind her mask, and Eli snorted.

"If he does.  He's kind of hard to compete with," Eli joked, and Skye just laughed again, obviously not worried.

"Oh, he will, he knows what's good for him.  Just keep her away from that pack of blondes.  They look like Vidas, but they don't smell much like them, and the one guy's a real charmer," she offered him, pointing at the group she was talking about, and it didn't take any further explanations for him to know exactly what she meant; all four of them gave off the impression of witches, but one pair had a sensation of growing power while the other two? 

He actually hoped theirs was no longer growing, and that was the man who, even as Eli was watching, turned to flirting with a pair of vampires that had been passing by.  The woman he was very obviously with joined in just a moment later, and the way that they each focused in on one half of the vampire pair was almost practiced.  The vampires didn't seem the type to fall for anything, but they all obviously knew each other and the man was suspicious enough of intent that he put an arm around his equally blonde companion, who merely smiled at her date as the witch teased her.  Nothing was going to come of it, even Eli could see that much from the way the witches' power spread out and was almost pushed back by the male vampire's darker aura, and though he wasn't laughing, the witches seemed to think it was a great joke.  "Thanks for the warning, I see what you mean."

"Figured you would.  Oh, here come Nick and Claudia!"

[Eli Sterling]

double-edged sword

Sure enough, LeCroix (he and Eli had worked together on private projects in the past, and were on very good terms because they both recognized that each other was very dangerous) escorted Claudia back over to his wife and her date, quite literally handing her off to Eli, who turned to Skye right off the bat.  "Claudia, this is Nick's wife, Skye.  Skye, this is Claudia," came the obligatory introductions, and the women shook hands and said their hellos, exchanging some compliments of their own until Nick nudged his wife and gestured to a group of various cats, two birds, a vampire and a few humans that Eli recognized as police and their dates (not the best terms with them, but that was more because they didn't like that any time he showed up on something, it was big and nasty).  They parted ways so that the LeCroix pair could go join the rowdy group that welcomed them in pretty happily, and loudly.  It was probably for the best, since the redhead was not-so-discreetly squeezing himself between a male and female lion, which Nick instantly diffused just by walking up and taking the male lion's attention.  Eli just shook his head, glancing to Claudia.

"My turn?"

"You can dance?" she asked, almost like she hadn't expected it.  She sure as hell looked surprised.

"Passably," he returned, taking her hand and leading her out into the crowd again, and he'd lied.  He danced well, much better than Heather had fared with Fury.

"What other fun secrets do you have like this?" she asked into his ear, and he could hear the smile in her voice without even looking at her.  He still looked, because he couldn't stop himself.

"You'll have to find out.  It's less fun if I just tell you."

"Does that mean I have to drag you out for karaoke next?"

"Ahh, no.  Not a fan of karaoke."

"You're not a fan of dancing, either."

"...Touche," he offered with a short laugh, just in time to turn her into another partner's grasp as the steps demanded a trade.  He found his hands meeting up with Lucien Cobriana's pretty companion, which meant that he'd just handed Claudia over to the guild leader himself, and the two laughed a little over not really knowing each other, introduced themselves over the course of the dance, then traded off again, this time for Capricia.  That meant that Dinah had been passed to her lover's younger brother, Lucien was dancing with the former Tuuli Thea and Claudia was with Connor, who wasn't actually much taller than she was.  It was easy to forget sometimes that the Crimson leader wasn't a big guy, but he was surrounded by a lot of men who were.  Capricia herself was certainly taller than Claudia, which made Eli wonder briefly if she was also taller than her lover.  He didn't ask because he didn't care that much, but it was amusing.  He'd done enough work with Crimson and Frost that he was familiar with both of them, but didn't often see them together.

They talked for a moment, asking how things were and she made mention of some craziness the guilds had found that Christian thought he should take a look at, so he promised to get in touch in the next few days.  After Capricia, he had his Claudia back, and she was still laughing at something Connor had been saying to her.  "What's so funny?"

"Connor, he called Lucien a stick in the mud and then went on the entire time about how nice it was not to look up at a girl.  I don't think I realized how short he was."

"Capricia's also quite tall in those heels she likes," Eli pointed out, but he laughed right with her.  For a guild leader, Connor sure didn't look (or sometimes act) the part.  As the song ended, Eli went off to get them both a drink, and that was where he ran into Rook.  He'd noticed that she had a little spot set up and was dressed in the most colorful (and very gypsy-like) ensemble he'd yet seen as she read cards for tip money.  She was drinking and dancing sometimes, as well, but it seemed like a fun party trick and a good idea.  He was at the bar beside her when she glanced over to say hello, made conversation and talked him into letting her read a card for him.  It wasn't even that he didn't believe in all of that, because he knew she had power, but card reading wasn't a very precise art.  If he wanted a glimpse at the future, he'd track down Connor's sister, who was actually somewhere in the crowd with her husband.

Still, Rook talked him into one, which she carefully chose face down from the deck in her hands and turned over with no small amount of hesitation.  He figured she was a good showman, which made sense because he'd never met a gypsy who couldn't be when they wanted, but she frowned when she saw it. 

"What?  Certain death?" he teased, mostly because he could.  "A broadsword, I like it."

"No, no, it's not that.  Um, it's the Ace of Swords, it's not a bad thing, but not necessarily a good thing.  Neutral.  You have a strong heart and a lot of power, maybe more than you realize, and you're going into a situation where you'll need both.  It can be good or bad, but it all depends on how you use it.  Anything that stands in the path will be destroyed, it'll all fall before you, but you have to remember that the sword can cut that which you love down just as surely as your enemies.  I'm not sure if you bear the sword or if you are it, I'm almost thinking both, but you have to be very careful.  Just because you're strong doesn't mean that what you're doing is right," she explained, and then she frowned, almost like that had hit home more than she liked.  Of course, he didn't know about her own struggles with power versus responsibility. 

"I really don't think I'm unaware of what power I have, but thanks for the warning," he told her, smiling as the bartender with the unnaturally bright green eyes set her drink down and got to work on his and Claudia's. 

"No, you're not listening.  This isn't some vague thing, something's actually going to happen soon, and it's huge.  A lot of power, a lot sitting on the edge of that blade.  It has the potential for triumph and clarity, or defeat and loss of everything.  It's all on you, so don't screw it up," she added, forcing a smile, but Eli's faded at the edges a little as he studied her.  She wasn't kidding.

"Uh, thanks.  Here," he offered her a few bills, since he knew that was what she was doing, but she shook her head, pushing them back as she picked up her drink.

"That one's free.  Just don't let him win, because you don't want to be his weapon forever, and he'd keep you," she warned, then slipped off into the throng of people by the bar. 

Eli stared after her until the feline behind the bar prompted him to take his drinks, which he did and started back to Claudia.  He had all of that swirling around in the front of his mind, trying to decide if he should make a joke of it and tell Claudia or not, when he came down the stairs to see her making her way to him in a manner that didn't look anything short of distressed.  He pressed the drinks into the hands of the people closest to him, which happened to be the 'goblin king' and his beautiful mate, both of whom looked surprised, but didn't fight with Eli as he rushed down to Claudia.  They might have even been the only way Eli managed to get her out of the crowd, since he thought he recognized the strange shimmer that came from illusion work as he made his way out of there with the precious life in his hands slipping away and people moved out of his way without trying too hard.  He didn't know that, for a few seconds there, that crazy lemur was bouncing around shouting and causing a scene (and requiring a wide berth) in two different places at that party, and he didn't care. 

All that mattered was getting to Lucifer before midnight, because for once, Eli's life was looking up.  He glanced over at Claudia in the seat beside him, cursing and trying to keep her awake as he broke traffic laws that the crazy Spaniard from Onyx (who'd gotten just as cleaned up as the rest of them to escort a pretty Sunday school teacher) would be jealous of, and it was as he was rushed into Lucifer's deal that he remembered what Rook had said.  Just because you're strong doesn't mean that what you're doing is right...don't let him win.

Too late, it seemed.  Eli handed himself over in a single, harsh word, simultaneously agreeing to be Lucifer's weapon and saving that which was most precious to him.