Outside Omens

Ellie frowned slightly. "She seems to be attracted to densely populated places, judging by her appearances so far..."

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"Lhasa first, then."

He folded the various maps away and politely moved his way through the small press of people into - well, another press of people, really. The airport was having a particularly busy day, it seemed. "Did you, er, want to establish a 'home base'? Am I saying that correctly? Was never one for ...football? Baseball. Sports. Although I was quite good at table tennis..."

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"That's probably a good idea." Ellie nodded, navigating effortlessly between the closely-packed bodies around her (and leaving behind, in certain cases, a sharply heightened awareness of just how closely they were packed.) "We should find whatever passes for an inn around here and meet back there if we get separated." She wasn't particularly concerned about having a place to sleep, though she knew Aziraphale had got into the habit.

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In the thick crowd, Aziraphale was amazed at his ability to spot the tiniest things - the sudden appearance of a pair of sunglasses, unexpected amidst the more tourist-oriented dress, which included wide-brimmed hats and faded orange robes. Sighing with a sudden dispiritedness he rather hoped Ellie hadn't caught, the angel turned and looked ahead to the security gates of the airport, where a short line was forming.

He handed the Tibetan travel permits and the Chinese visas to the security officials, notably wearing suits, waiting for them to be verified. One of them asked in an, of all things, Australian accent what their purpose was in Tibet, and Aziraphale told him that they were going to meet up with a friend and spend some time with them. Hopefully.

"Here, I'm sure there'll be somewhere decent in town. It'll be a little over-done, you understand - they do believe we're tourists, after all. Ah well. Welcome to Tibet."

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He sat in the bar in Lhasa, idly running his finger around the rim of the partially full glass of rice wine that had been sat in front of him. It wasn’t virgin’s blood, but it’d do. He looked for all the world as though he were a million miles away. He wasn’t. He was watching a rather heated exchanged between a man and a woman. Married by the look of them and from the clashing auras, though small they were, told him that if the man didn’t calm down shortly that the woman would be the one paying for it. Asmodeus sighed and decided it best to step in now, so leaving his rice wine at the bar, he ambled over.

“What seems to be the problem?” He asked softly. He already knew, of course, but it was always a good opening as it made the upset person analyze whether getting upset because their partners wanted to dance was really worth it. After a few moments he garnered the fact that the man was stupid and highly unreasonable. Like Sarah’s first husband.

By the time Asmodeus left the bar the man was trying vainly to not drowned in his own blood and the woman was crying and screaming. The demon sighed, there were just some folks who deserved what he dealt them, and gave the area a tentative occult sniff. Yes, the girl was still here, but something pinged hard off his internal radar. He sent his powers out in the direction of the other. Hissing he pulled back sharply before he could be detected. An angel was here, a single one which was odd if they intended to take the girl on. He took another look at the girl. She’d have to recharge before making another jump and it seemed that there was only this one angel currently. It should be fine to investigate.

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Unfamiliar scents and sights filled the angel's view, from the bright and busy marketplaces and shops that covered both sides of the streets as they left the airport, setting off on foot.

So unfamiliar, in fact, that his nose tickled in warning and he pulled out a handkerchief, sneezing violently once, twice. Their progress came to a halt as he dabbed his suddenly watery eyes (these human bodies had their own reactions), and then tucked the handkerchief away. It was only after he had recovered that he felt - no, was it? - a demon in the area. More than one, likely, but the infernal presence was distant and faint.

"There's other people searching here," he told Ellie, in case others had caught word of 'demon' or 'angel'. "Far off, but be wary. You can't afford to be caught."

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Ellie shuddered and nodded, moving unconsciously a half-step closer to the Principality. "They won't notice me until they're right on top of me," she said in a low voice, "or those that could, will undoubtedly see you first, and wonder what on Earth you're doing with me. So you be careful, too."

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"I don't know if they'll interfere with us that much, my dear. At least not until we find the girl." He offered a smile, neatly side-stepping an abandoned bamboo basket, half-destroyed. "There should be a hotel up ahead, if my map's correct. Shall we stay there? Not too luxurious, but we're not here for massages and the like, after all. Now where did I put - ah, there we go. Here's some yuan, I've got the larger bills hidden in my jacket pocket. You'd better have some of your own, actually, here..."

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"Hush," Ellie murmured, sliding the cash unobtrusively into a very well-protected location. "Anyplace is fine, I suppose, and the less high-profile the better." Even with Aziraphale by her side, she didn't particularly like being so far from Adam's protection, especially knowing there were other immortals in the area. She resisted the urge to scan the crowd or glance over her shoulder, knowing she'd sense any threatening beings long before she saw them.

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As if sensing her unease, he inconspicuously led them out of the centre of the street, towards the overhanging drapes of many of the shops, and finally into the entrance of the place of the third block, which contained a large sign stating that it was the Lhasa Century Hotel, with the English added underneath in subtle lettering.

It wasn't a luxurious hotel by any standards, particularly if one was only viewing it from the outside, but it had a decent flow of passage and a greeter who welcomed them once they stepped in off the street.

"Ah... we'd like a room. Please," he tried in English, to the concierge. "Nous voudrions une chambre, s'il vous plait." Very little reaction. Dammit, he thought, his Tibetan was rusty, and even then he'd learned it in Kashmir ages ago, which was probably an entirely different dialect... ah, well. A little sign read 'Out to Lunch'* from what was apparently the head concierge desk, and the boy sitting in front of him looked as nervous as Aziraphale felt.

"A room," he said, in Tibetan. "Er... Tashi Phentso-la," he added, reading the nametag. The boy lit up and began passing him paperwork.

*The Tibetan equivalent thereof; when it came to the spoken form Aziraphale may be rusty but in the written he was not, having found the usage of the language surprisingly common in many ancient texts. Something to do with a relation between Shangri-la and Heaven, generally.

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Shadows wrapped themselves around a building. Seaming into every crack and crevice of the delapidate structure. Becoming one with it and molding themselves to fit with the buildings true shadows. Seeping into the darkened alleyways where shadows never wane and oozing through the city through passages unknown Asmodeus made his way through the throngs of human matter and came upon the glimmer of light that was the angel in his mind’s eye.

The angel was a Principality and nothing more, but what made the demon king start back was that standing by his side was one of his own kind. A shapely succubus, if he was any judge of the species, and yet something was off. It was as if she had cut herself from the Master and that threw him because he couldn’t understand why any demon would want to do such a dreadful thing.

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Ellie smiled at the young man, then glanced around uneasily as Aziraphale began filling out the forms. She liked cities, as a rule, but she found herself taking an inexplicable dislike to this one. It wasn't the sense of being a fish out of water, either--she'd been to many cities where non-Abrahamic religions were the overwhelming majority, and had nothing in particular against the Dalai Lama or his followers (why the poor man couldn't be allowed to return home was beyond her.) It was an ancient place, which she usually found comforting, and it was bathed in sunlight (although, as all dwellers in dark places knew, it took light to create shadow; there was plenty of that here as well.) The architecture was beautiful and the people seemed friendly enough; it was just...something. She couldn't put her finger on it, and that was half of what bothered her about it.

She took a moment to silently thank Someone Aziraphale had come along on this trip, and schooled herself not to fidget as she waited.

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The infernal presence shifted in Aziraphale's peripheral sense, and the angel spared a glance around as a key was handed to him and they were invited to go upstairs.

"Here, let's get settled, my dear," he said quietly. "I've paid for a fortnight; it's frighteningly inexpensive so don't spare a thought for the cost, although we are sharing the room. It seems more sensible."

The door to their room loomed before them, and Aziraphale inserted the key into the slightly stiff lock. With a click, the door opened, and a small yet richly decorated room presented itself. There was little simplicity in the design of the room, and gave it a crowded appearance.

Of course, he'd been spoiled, the angel reminded himself. The Ritz had been a weekly part of his life for a long time, even by his standards.

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Asmodeus began to uncoil from the shadow of a Sansevieria causing the plant itself to shudder violently as he sapped energy from it to fill himself out. The shadows lashed violently, pulling up from the floor and rent the light with hellish power. He grew bulbous and large as the shadows condensed and formed his human vestige until he could solidify completely.

Asmodeus blinked once to reorient himself with the idea of having eyes and looked over at the boy that had handed the angel paperwork, he had fainted from the sight. The demon sneered, but did not bother with the boy. It wasn’t like he hadn’t eaten before arriving anyway. So with a slightly stiff gait (something that occurred after shadow-walking) he traveled up the stairs to investigate the two unlikely allies and if they just happened to be after the girl as well he’d deal with them in his own way.

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Ellie glanced around the room and wrinkled her nose slightly. It wasn't that she objected to luxury, but she preferred it to be somewhat less overdone. Banishing a few of the more kitchsy items to the ether with a wave--"I'll put them back before we leave," she promised Aziraphale--she set about putting away the few things she'd brought with her.

"I'll be honest with you, I'll be very surprised if we actually find her," she confessed after a moment. "Or if she stays put long enough to listen without frying us both where we stand. Those ham-handed idiots both sides have been sending at her have taught her to attack immortals on sight and then run. From what I gathered, Mictain hadn't even made any threatening moves when she blasted him, although I'd trust the big dolt's word on that about as far as I could throw him."

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There was a careful, studied silence around the angel, as he kept his back turned, kneeling by his own case.

"That's true," he said finally, and stood, folding a pair of trousers as he went. "Ellie," Aziraphale continued, carefully considering each word before he spoke it, "I wasn't sure we'd find her either, or that it would be easy or simple. I still have my doubts, greatly so, and I was worried you'd put too much faith in this trip."

The trousers he placed on the bed, for the moment. "If not this one, then another, though. And the influx of demonic activity -" the dresser shook as he opened a drawer and slammed it shut, intentionally, to scare off any listeners, like the one he could feel prickling, too near for his tastes "- at least says we're in the right spot."

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Asmodeus jumped back slightly, startled by the slamming of the drawer. What he’d heard though was neither invaluable nor was it totally worthless. He knew that the girl didn’t trust anyone and that the buffoons that both sides had been sending against her often had only one brain cell to share amongst them. This was nothing new to him. Yet he stood still, retracting his aura and strained his ears to catch any other important information. He wanted to know why these two were here looking for the girl. Why a succubus and an angel were working together. And why couldn’t he sense the succubus when he first located the angel. Hopefully, all his questions would be answered shortly. If not, well, he had time to learn them if he needed to know at a later time.

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Ellie startled a bit at the drawer-slamming, and looked at Aziraphale questioningly, wondering if he was just picking up on the same uncomfortable vibes as she was, or if he sensed something more. "I'm still not a hundred percent certain it's really her," she added after a moment. "The timing's right, but that's hardly a guarantee. I hope I can at least get a look at her, see whether there's any resemblance. On either side."

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Asmodeus looked startled at the revelation. He was aware that a demon could have children, but by the feel of the child the father was definitely an angel. Why a demon would fall in love with a bogey he had no idea. Might even be the angel in the room, but Asmodeus rather doubted it. The angel acted too gay to be interested in a succubi.

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Leaning over, he turned on a very, very conveniently placed radio, which crooned an Elvis song, just loud enough to ruin an eavesdropper's ability to hear them - from a distance.

"Actually, it's not the timing that reassures me," the angel continued, casually, flicking momentary glances at the door. He waited for comprehension to dawn, helped along by the small flask of holy water he slipped into a jacket pocket, and then took Ellie's hand, guiding her to the closet and passing her a shirt to hang up, and closing the door as she stepped in. "It's good, but it's more the blonde hair. Unusual, around here, but with the tourism industry gaining speed I suppose not so uncommon."

"Don't you agree?" he asked the empty room, just as he swung open the door to the hall and stepped out.

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Puzzled by the radio (which was about as much an antique as Elvis himself) and Aziraphale's strange gestures, Ellie opened her mouth to ask what the angel was doing, but shut it again when she caught sight of the flask. Clearly, whatever was making her feel so ill at ease, Aziraphale had identified it as a threat--though if it was a demon, it wasn't like any she had encountered before; not one of the Fallen and not a Fiend, either. And closer than she had assumed, apparently, which was not at all reassuring.

She didn't stop to ask questions, but followed his lead, though she had to stifle an indignant squeak when he shut the closet door on her. Not that she'd never hidden in a closet before, in a pinch; but it felt unseemly somehow, letting the angel take risks for her sake, even if he was a Principality. It called to mind the fight in the Manor greenhouse some time before, as well as a much older memory, one she immediately kicked to the back of her mind and buried again.

Promising herself she wouldn't stay cowering in here if it turned into real trouble, she peered anxiously through the narrow space between the closet doors as the angel flung open the door to the room.

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When he heard the radio click on and Elvis start crooning that was the end of his eavesdropping. He slid into the shadows becoming as immaterial as them and quickly took off before the Principality even flung open the door. He didn’t have enough information to go on, but he’d find it all out later. Right now, he’d have to find the child and see if he could talk to her.

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The presence dissipated, and Aziraphale immediately felt foolish, peering up and down the hallway when it was clear there was no one there anymore. That is, of course, barring the odd servant, one of which who stood there, looking curiously at him.

"It's, er, perfectly all right... there was a bee," he explained, trying in vain to straighten his clothing. "A really... big one."

Uncomprehending, the man shrugged at him, and walked off, even as Aziraphale made a vague mental note to look up 'Tibetan Bumblebees' or lack thereof.

It was obvious that there was no one still there, but Aziraphale still looked, trying very desperately to seem as if he was innocently exploring the premises, which included one very dirty janitor's closet that was nearby.

He trudged back to the room, feeling awkward and paranoid, and walked around, sorting out the few misplaced items and shutting off the radio before opening the closet door.

"I apologize for that, my dear."

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