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It's where my demons hide, oh it's where my demons hide.
In the end it had been Simon. Alex had been aware that Simon was…watching her which sounded a hell of a lot better than stalking her since she’d heard their conversation when she’d recorded her sleep note. What Alex hadn’t realized then is just how much Simon had been protecting her or whatever and how often he’d been around. Sure, joking with Nic about Simon watching was one thing—what else is one supposed to do when you’ve got a dark sense of humor and a creepy bilocating kid with an obsession—but finding out that he’d actually been there and overheard those conversations was another thing entirely.
But in an effort to convince Alex to go to Turkey to meet him and the Horn of Tiamat, he’d come clean. Well, it was as clean as Simon had known how to come given all of his cryptic bullshit but she’d gotten the gist of it nonetheless. Alex had gotten the gist of it, and then she’d tried to hide from it, pulling the blankets over her head for a day and calling in sick and wondering if it could possibly be fucking true. That Strand was a demon and had been the entire time and that she had been friends with a demon, that she’d flirted with a demon, that she’d defended a demon and that Alex had bought into the lies and manipulations of a demon who was using her and her entire show for some untoward purpose that probably was the end of the world.
Honestly it was enough to make anyone take to their beds—even Alex Reagan with all of her bravery.
But it was only for one day, even if Alex did call out of work. Nic was more than happy to give her the time off considering it was Alex asking for it, and calls, texts and emails from Strand went entirely unanswered. The most important thing Alex knew from her investigation was that she needed two things in order to figure this out; to prove it: information and evidence. While Alex may not have been very good at collecting evidence of things (though now she can’t help but to wonder how much Strand and to a lesser extent Simon had sabotaged her efforts toward it) one thing that Alex was excellent at was collecting information and getting people to talk to her. Especially people with whom she’d already had a prior connection too.
Alex didn’t know if it was something in her voice or if it was just a case of it being the right moment but this time when she reached out to Charlie Strand, Charlie did agree to talk to her. Off the record, and Alex didn’t record it but it wasn’t about that. This had gone well past a story to the truth and Charlie told her how when they’d been out looking for Coralee, Strand had changed. It was what Charlie had meant by her not having a father anymore because the man who came back from those woods wasn’t her Dad. There had been moments in Charlie’s childhood where the man masquerading as her father had seemed to come out, but Coralee always managed to fix him. Without her stepmother, there was no hope in turning Richard Strand back into who he had been which was why Charlie was working at the Vatican hoping to find something that would work. So far? She hasn’t.
There was no way for Alex to get in touch with Coralee but there was another person who knew him, and Alex called her and begged in a way that she hadn’t when she’d talked to Cheryl before. Richard had moments of weirdness when they were children, but Howard had beaten it out of Richard. That was until Richie had gone looking for the body of Bobby Maimes that he’d seen within his dreams and came back entirely different.
It had taken a week to try and track these things down, and then Alex couldn’t sit on them anymore. She couldn’t keep pacing and waiting and worrying and talking to herself wondering if who she was actually talking to was Simon. In the end, it’s late when Alex drives to Howard’s house in the middle of a rainstorm. Knocking on his door, Alex just holds her breath not sure who—or what—was going to answer the door.
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Letting out a deep breath, she just laces her hand with his and tries to look back to the exit where they'd left the car in a casual way. Keeping her voice light and low, and a vapid little grin on her face as if there was nothing in the world right now and she didn't have, as Han Solo would say 'a bad feeling about this' was harder than Alex would have liked it to be. But that's not the kind of reporter that she was or that she'd ever had been, so the look feels cheap and too tight--almost like a costume.
But what it does do is to let Alex give a little laugh as if he'd said something funny before she wraps her arms very loosely around Richard's neck. Alex goes up on his toes and kisses his neck as a cover to whisper into his ear. "You're right. Something is really wrong here. What should we do?"
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That's what bothers him. A sense of something this strong? He doesn't pull Alex but he does get a sense that all the people around him are...
Waiting for something.
"...Apophenia."
No. This is not Apophenia. This is...
Stepping into the concourse he's surprised to see the people gradually thin out and thicken again - and then thin when they get to the food court.
That's where the energy is concentrated in a seemingly abandoned foodcourt where a single man is sitting with a cold up of tea.
Richard stops first.
"It's not really Warren."
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To Alex, it almost feels like walking into some sort of movie set. People playacting at being characters that should be traveling at an airport. This entire thing feels wrong, and yet she doesn't make any move to stop because Richard doesn't. Instead she just stays at pace with him, chewing on her lip as they pass one group and then another, and then another each one acting as something that they'd have to go back through in order to get the hell out of the airport.
It's not something that's lost on her that the two of them are being lead deeper into the airport.
"What do you mean?" Her voice is soft as she looks to the man there. The man who is alone in a place where no one ever is alone. "Who is it?"
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"It's Richard, Belial." Richard's hand clenches, "Does Warren know you're wearing his face?"
The man shrugged, on his feet, "I could look like anyone. Is this more preferrable?"
His hand waves over his features and he smirks - melting into Coralee. Shaking out his hair, the demon of lies frowns, "No. This doesn't fit. Now her..."
Alex may be surprised to see Coralee melt away to reveal...herself. In the same dress. when she speaks it even sounds like her, "Yes. Of course."
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While Alex doesn't startle when the demon shifts into Coralee, she does when it's herself. But it's a startle that only lasts for a moment before Alex raises her chin and looks to the demon who is actually her height.
It's nice not to need to look up for once.
"What the hell do you want, Belial? And that's enough of wearing my face, I think." Her voice is hard and firm and angry because Simon was dead, Simon was dead and now this was a trap and they might not even get to Warren.
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Prince of Lies. Demon of Darkness. The creature that is Richard Strand has claws and longer than normal teeth, "...Back up or I'll rip you to pieces."
The not Alex is bruised, bloodied, and staggering to her feet with a hiss before glaring at the real Alex, eyes fading to black.
"Are you going to let him treat us like that?"
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"What is it that you want? Why are you here? Why were you wearing Warren's face?" Coralee's face, and Alex's own makes sense honestly, because they're faces that Richard would have a problem with. It's not that Alex isn't unaffected by this--she definitely is--but Alex knows that the demon is trying to fuck with her, and she is equally determined not to let that show.