I'm following someone who could give me some vital information possibly on finding dirt on Councilman Graves and this has not been easy. I've been checking to make sure of his schedule, habits, and other measure I should take trying to get information from him. I checked his car and it has a GPS transmitter on it. His home is bugged and not by me so getting in there is out of the question. I can't down right kidnap the man, too many mistakes could happen and it's too risky of getting caught.
Cursing my luck I go back home after a long day and find Cass and Faidh on the couch watching a movie. I say hello and notice they don't say anything back I look at them again and realize they're asleep. Chuckling I grab a blanket and cover them up before going upstairs and taking a shower.
I'm greeted by Sinatra Johns cat, he's getting old and he just lays there on the bed when he sees me giving me a slight purring meow as a greeting. I pet and scratch behind his ears before going to the shower.
I'm drying my hair with the towel when I hear the slight tapping on my door, I open it and Cass is there.
"Hey, you're back. No luck?" He asks sleepily.
"No, It's not like I could pick the man up in bar either you know. Since he knows my face." I say disappointingly.
"What if you asked Temple if there was an Elixir that you could take to maybe help with that?" Cass stretched popping his back.
"Cass, you really are a genius you know that?" I truly have to admit, this kid can come up with ideas even half asleep.
He grins, "I know, but you got to give Faidh the credit for that one. Ever since you told her about the show she is curious how it would be done."
"Well I could invite Temple here, not like you need to worry about him, well maybe you but not her." He looks confused after I say that.
"Oh I left that part out... He's into males." I smirk watching Cass and his eyes go wide. "He hit on Alex, so you'd probably be on his radar." I tease him and Cass blushes.
"Well sorry about his luck, I'm perfectly good with Faidh. This means you'll be going down to Alex's then? Will you be alright?" Cass asks concerned.
Alex and Natalia have been dating for about 6 months now and it's been 8 months since the show. She knows about the redcaps and that I'm part fae. Thank goodness Alex hasn't said anything else about us or anyone else for that matter. Me and Natalia are friends and I really do like her and I'm happy for her and Alex they really do seem made for each other. There's still a tinge of hurt in my heart for letting Alex go but I've been better about it since coming back home to San Diego.
"Yeah Cass, I'll be fine I really am happy that they're finding happiness with each other, it's not like I could give him the same things she can. Besides, Belle told me I'd get John back one day.... maybe not the same exact John but still, there's hope. That there is something in itself." I look at the giant shadow box on the wall of John and I.
My heart may have a tinge of hurt for Alex but my heart still longs for John much more so.
"Okay well, I'm going to get Faidh in to bed, get some rest Sin. Night." Cass says waving me off and heading down stairs.
"Night Cass."
.....
I had just arrived at Alex's place and walked in since everyone knew me. I go in the kitchen and Lar is sketching at the table.
"Hey Lar, are you designing something new?" I look at the paper and notice it's wedding dress.
Lar and I exchange a look and I sit down. "I don't think you've gone and decided to dip into the bridal part of fashion, it's become that serious between them?"
"Well you know Alex, when he has his mind set on something....." he paused.
"Yes I know, I'm happy for them. They deserve to be happy and if its with each other even more the better." I give Lar a smile and pat on the hand. Lar looks up at me and holds my hand on top of his.
"So Mija, what brings you here to visit? I'm glad to see you here, you want something to eat? I can whip you up something?" He asks I see the doubt in his face about my reaction but I don't let it get to me.
"No.. Actually Lar I need to talk to Temple." Lar looks at me dumbfounded.
"Now?" He asks.
"If at all possible, soon." I say and Lar snaps his fingers for us to suddenly be in Milan again at Temples house.
"Oh wow. Lar I would have been fine with sending him a message, but this works too." I say getting up from the seat Lar had made us snap to.
Temple came into the room and dropped the papers he was holding. "What the! You two startled me!" He bent down and picked up his papers.
"Sorry about that Temple, Maria wanted to talk to you. Also I wouldn't mind getting some Elixir from you and paying a visit to Belle. Alex is here somewhere in town too. Might be a good idea to pay him a visit as well." Lar takes a glance in my direction but smiles up at Temple.
"Sure thing Lar, just Belle's Elixir or both?" Temple gives a terrifying grin to Lar, and I realize that's just his face since he is an Oni.
"Both Temple old buddy, now Mija, go ahead." Lar gestured to Temple and Temple redirected his attention to me.
"How can I help you, sister?" He asks taking a seat on the sofa next to him.
"I wanted to know if you could make an Elixir for me to temporarily appearance so I can get close to someone and them not know it was me. Otherwise I put everyone I know in danger." I look at him hopeful.
"Uh well yes I could and it would be safe considering you have the blood, but it's very expensive and the longer time you need the Elixir to work the more expensive it is. Also depends on what color you want your hair. It's black so to get it to lighten will be hard especially if you want blonde."
"Brunette would do. How expensive are we talking for a weeks worth of 24 hour?" I ask him.
"For it to safely work on you and be effective for that long.... Depends how much ingredients I have to use. I'm not sure how much I will need. Come with me and we will get it figured out." He stands and we follow him into the other room and he takes me down a spiral staircase and past some cells with humans trapped in them. I start and look at Lar and Temple who's walking ahead of us. Lar shakes his head and has me continue to follow Temple.
Once we get to the room, inside is a lab set up and the walls are lined with drawer after drawer of ingredients and there are tons of refrigerators and another door that looks like a freezer door.
"Take a seat. So sister, I heard you pause going by the cells, you know about the mythology of an Oni right?" He asks beginning to pull out drawers and grab ingriedients.
"Somewhat, but obviously the myths are not entirely true." I say apprehensively. His tone changed somewhat not as light and bubbly as before.
"Yes, while it's true we terrorized men, we only do it to evil men. Much like Lar and his brothers drink the blood of an evil person, I do too. I just keep mine alive longer then they do. The evil I capture tend to deserve a slower death. Pedophiles, rapists, murderers, I set my sights on them when I hunt. So please don't misunderstand what I have going on with those 'things' out there."
He smiles up at me waiting for me to show a sign of disgust or rejection. I shake my head.
"Lar explained that part to me about necessary evils along time ago."
"Good" Temple returns to measuring out ingredients and mixing them together with some liquids he pulls out of the fridge.
In about 30 minutes I've become a brunette with a decent face and figure and looking nothing like my self. I am laughing at the sound of my voice, poking my face and making faces in the mirror. The transformation was weird like ants crawling over every inch of my body but it lasted a short time before it was complete. However, we had to sit and wait to see how long it would last.
Two hours later and I'm getting a prickly feeling on my skin and my head has a dull ache start. I inform Temple and he nods grabbing some other ingredients and by the time he's done with the new concoction I've been me for 10 minutes again. He hands me the elixir and tells me to drink up and go visit Alex with Lar and see what happens.
"It should last 24 hours so I'll make this batch up for you." Temple says.
"How much Temple?" I ask looking over my reflection again.
"200." He says after writing down some numbers and adding them up.
"$200 dollars is it?" I ask shocked it was so little.
Lar and Temple started laughing, "No Mija, $200,000."
Damn it.... "Okay how should I get you the money?"
"You're buying an antique dresser from the Ming dynasty from me." Temple smiles.
"I am?" Taken aback I look at him.
"No, but its old and will make it to where it's not suspicious transferring that amount of money over." He gives me a wink and sends us on our way.
......
We headed to Natalia's loft house after we went to Lars for him to change into a human and get dressed. I asked Lar if Alex was spending most of his time here in Italy with Natalia. The house there in Mexico felt pretty empty.
"Yeah he has been spending majority of his time here the past two months. He comes back to handle business he can't over the phone but he's been talking more with smaller designers getting contracts with them for smaller orders, but he's happier doing business with these people too. We're both happy to not have anything to do with drugs anymore. That Hector, I'm glad you got his puto culo rotting in prison at least." Lar spoke at ease with me as we drove to the the loft.
"Lar I'm curious...... has Alex .............mentioned me at all since him and Natalia started dating?" I hesitate asking not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "I just want to make sure he was emotionally ready for a new relationship before they started dating." I add before he speaks.
Lar pulls over and parks the car.
"Why did you park?" I ask looking around.
"Mija, would it change anything even if he did say something about you afterwards? Would you run to him and tell him you're still in love with him?" He asks seriously.
"No, it wouldn't. I just felt like if you're already designing a wedding dress that it seems pretty quick to be already thinking about that. I'm sorry I asked, I didn't mean it in that way. I know Natalia's his fated woman. Just like I'm fated to find John again. I just still care is all, and I feel weird and guilty calling him to see how things are."
Lar puts the car back into drive and continues driving, "Good now that everything is understood, just call him sometime Mija. He does talk about you, but mostly to say he misses his friend. You talk to Natalia more then him even if you tell her to say hi, that's it."
"K tio." I say.
Lar gives me a look that says 'did you just call me your uncle?'
"Brother, Mija. Not Tio, hermano. O K?"
I snicker "K hermano, happy now?"
Lar smacks my leg sharply.
"OW! Hey keep your eyes on the road, already beating me up like your my brother too. So MEAN!"
..........
We arrived at Natalia's loft which was conviently located in the same building as her store/ warehouse. The warehouse was to the right of shop which consisted of the area for the seamstress's work, a small show/photography area, and storage room. The boutique where she sold just her clothing sat under her loft apartment and could be accessed from either the shop, warehouse or private entrance in the back of the building. Lar parked out front and opened the door for me to get out.
"Merci." I thanked him as we went into the store front, my hand hooked around his arm.
"Ciao, Signore Bisset. Who is this charming young woman with you?" The manager of the shop floor came out and greeted us.
"Ah si, signora Lucia, this is a friend of Aida's, may I introduce, Eloise Dupuis."
"Salve, signora Dupuis. Di dov'è Lei? (where are you from)" She asked me in Italian.
"Sono di Marsiglia, parli Francese o Inglese? Il mio italiano manca. {I'm from Marseille, do you speak French or English? My Italian is lacking.} I nodded in greeting to her.
"English is fine, signora Dupuis. Please take a seat, I'll go and have Signora Natalia De Luca come down." She took off swiftly but elegantly upstairs as some of the associates looked over at me and smiled merely because I was in there with Lar, or 'Devon Bisset'.
Shortly Natalia came swiftly down from the loft area with Alex hand in hand. My heart flipped but in a good way. They were radiating love and happiness.
"Ciao, Devon!" Natalia kissed both of Lar's cheeks and came over to greet me.
"Eloise Dupuis? Hello, I'm Natalia De luca, what brings you by my studio?" She was proper and business like talking with me and I mentioned I had seen some of her pieces and wanted to reach out and have her design a few things for me.
She ended up taking me away from Lar and Alex to the design studio next door in the warehouse areas office. There were sketch pads and pencils, charcoal and other artistic materials and she began getting a list of my likes and dislikes and then what I was looking for. I was asking her for a jacket, skirt and blouse outfit, a pantsuit, and two dresses, casual and semi-formal.
"I hate to bring this part up but just so we're clear on the details. How much is your budget for these items?" Natalia asked keeping it professional even though I already knew how much she hated bringing up money.
"Is 85,000 Euro's enough to cover the costs? I don't want to spend more than 100, but I do love your work and I know it will be worth it." So far I'd been able to keep french vowels in my speech and I felt I was pulling off this disguise very well.
"So please...May I call you Eloise or would you prefer Ms. Dupuis?" Natalia asked uncertain of me still.
"Eloise, please."
"Thank you Eloise, so how do you know Devon? Not many people have the pleasure of getting to know him." She asked still seeming professionally curious but I knew better. She could tell something wasn't right, because I came in with Lar as Devon. I decided to see how far I could roll with my disguise.
"I know him through his wife, Aida shes done a few jobs through the agency I work for and we chat. I told her I'd be in Milan a few days and she suggested Devon bring me here since she is out of town." I said matter of fact.
Her looks were still questioning but seemed like I had given her a logical answer. She had been drawing some sketches up the entire time we were talking and she came out with a few rough sketches of all my requests in less then 30 minutes and started making refined sketches with the designs I like better.
Alex and Lar came walking in shortly after she started the last sketches. Alex sat next to Natalia smiling and nodded to me a look on his face that most wouldn't notice but I did. He knew something was up, just what he was trying to find out. Lar came and took a seat off to the side like he didn't have a care in the world.
Natalia cared though because if I was really who I said I was, it could make her look bad if I was put in an awkward situation. The way Alex was staring at me was starting to make my face flush.
Finally I looked at him and gave a slight smile, like I can feel you staring at me like a creep already.
I cleared my throat and Natalia caught on and asked, "Would you like a glass of water?"
"Merci, S'il vous plaît." (thank you, please.) She grabbed Alex and walked him out and came back a few seconds later smiling. She then went over material choices and showed me some fabric swatches of what she had but if I had any thoughts or colors she could make arrangements.
Alex came in with a glass of water and set it down in front of me. "So Eloise Dupuis tell me how do you know me?"
"Pardon?" I said sounding confused, "Have we met?"
"Lar told me we have met before." he said. Oh nice Alex ....
"Lar? I don't know a Lar. Are you confusing me with someone else?" I question him.
"I feel like I know you though... Your mannerisms, and demeanor... but I can't put my finger on it."
"Alex..." Natalia hissed and she smiled apologetically at me and flashed daggers at Alex.
Oh man.. I didn't want this disguise to cause them issues.
"Excusez-moi, monsieur. (excuse me, Sir) I highly doubt that we have met and that you would remember a stupid, incompetent, nobody like me in comparison to yourself, the sole owner of Esencia De Vida." I say nonchalantly seemingly unaffected by him.
Something flashes across his face and he whispers something to Natalia in her and she grabs her designs up and says she's going to cut some swatches for my designs she'll be right back.
Lar gets up and walks after her leaving just me and Alex.
"You know me..... I think I know you ...." Alex looks the part of the protector right now sizing me up not sure if I'm a threat or not.
"Oh come now Alex, I know it's been a while but I thought that was a dead give away." I drop the french accent and now he's really confused.
Well I guess if it has him so confused, it should work with a bit of tweaking characteristics and habits I have to help gather up intel.
"You don't recognize your friend, amigo hermosa?" I coyly smile.
His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
"MARIA?!"