Haunted (Alastor X Reader)

Chapter 4

The sound of dry, autumn leaves crunching beneath his feet broke the quietude of the space outside your house. The air was crisp- not frigid, but cool against his face as the wind gently blew through the trees. Strands of his hair whipped gently as the breeze ran through it, filling his senses with the earthy aroma that enveloped him. Such a nice change of pace from the usual ash and sulfur smell that lingered everywhere in Hell.

The sound of crunching leaves was then replaced with creaking floorboards as the wooden porch groaned beneath his feet as he came up to your house. Alastor wasted no time spotting his old radio in your living room through one of the windows. 'Aw how sweet, she cleaned it up and dusted it off.' He thought to himself, chuckling softly. His glowing eyes scanned the room, finding no trace of you. No matter, he was sure you hadn't gone far.

Teleporting into the room he looked around, admiring your taste in interesting decoration and walking toward his radio. He placed a hand on top of it fondly, smiling at the relic and admiring his handiwork on the side of it. At the mercy of his power, he grazed his hand along the side until it reached the incantation he had carved into it nearly a century ago, a red aura of light glowing in the etchings of the wood until the words slowly faded until nothing was left but his name and the manufacturing date; as if it was never there in the first place.

He then tapped his fingers rhythmically along the top of it, his claws making gentle clicking taps as he did so before his ear flicked at the sound of your voice. It sounded as though it was coming from one of the rooms behind him, as if you were talking to someone but he couldn't hear another person's voice. He poked his head past the doorway to perhaps catch a glimpse of you, but you were somewhere off where he couldn't see you.

Being the gentleman that he was, he wasn't about to interrupt your conversation- that would be a rather unpleasant first impression on his part, he thought. With a soft sigh he meandered over to a box you had over by your couch and began sifting through your belongings; finding several little trinkets he assumed you would unpack later. Candles, little statues, incense burners and the like. He also found a few books as well that were close to a tall, coffin shaped book shelf.

His fingers danced along the hard covers of each of them, reading classic titles like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Dracula, Grimms Fairy Tales, and a few horror novels as well. 'How precious.' He stumbled upon a larger one filled with works of Edgar Allen Poe, and pulled it out carefully from the box. He walked back over to your couch and made himself comfortable, sitting back into the seat and resting one leg upon the other and began reading quietly to himself as he awaited for you to come back out.

He was partway through one of the stories when he heard the noise of a door softly shutting on the far end of the house, his ear flicked in the direction of it as his grin widened. He kept his eyes on the pages in front of him as the gentle pitter-pattering of your footsteps came creeping down the stairs and into the kitchen across from the living room. His gaze lifted from the book to watching you with excitement and intrigue, admiring your physique and your features. Noting the color of your hair and the way you walked about your home. You were adorable. His shadow was right about that, he noted as he watched intently as you got yourself a glass of water and caught a glimpse of your face.

He lowered the book down to his lap as he kept watching you, seemingly unaware of his presence as you stood by the kitchen counter. After taking a sip of water you turned and started walking back in the direction that you came. He noticed that you took a glance in his direction and you both locked eyes for a moment as you kept walking -as if on autopilot- and disappeared behind the wall... Only to hear your footsteps abruptly stop a moment after, as what you saw finally clicked in your head.

You leaned back from where you stood and poked your head past the doorway to do a double take, brows furrowed in concern and alarm as you didn't believe your eyes.