A/N "Dance with the Devil" by Breaking Benjamin
"To hell with him and his papers," Elle snarled the moment she finished reading. Snivel the elf shivered nearby, clearly unprepared for the onslaught of her fury. It was evident that no one had briefed him on the nature of the delivery.
"It has been MONTHS," Elle seethed, controlling her irrational desire to burst into flames. She set the thick papers back inside the envelope to resist setting them on fire. "MONTHS! And he signed these the same day we married?!" Elle stalked around the coffee shop, snarling profanities all the while. Poor Snivel shook with nerves, clearly not knowing what to do or say. A heavy, pregnant pause filled the air. Nothing was said for the longest time until the elf finally spoke again.
"Sh-should I come back for a signature at another time?" he asked feebly.
Elle had been glaring out the window of the coffee shop before her head snapped down to look at him, her eyes narrowing. "What did you just say...?"
Snivel was slack-jawed as he watched Elle, clearly unsure of what to say or do next. "My queen, I only mean... er..."
"If Jack Frost wants a divorce so bad, HE can be the one to give me these papers," Elle exclaimed vehemently, her voice laced with frustration. She gestured wildly towards the snow outside, her hand slicing through the air. "He was clearly in the area!" Her words echoed in the room as she punctuated her statement with a jump, her anger palpable in every movement.
"He could have stopped by at any time!" Her hands were engulfing in flames, spooking Snivel. She knew her eyes were most likely changing color for the small elf backed away slowly. Elle's long sleeves shriveled and burned up quickly, making her long-sleeved black shirt now look like a short sleeve. Taking a deep breath, Elle knew she had to calm down. She would accidentally set off the fire alarms to the shop if she weren't careful. She couldn't have that happen, not again...
"Perhaps I'll come by in an hour when you have a moment to calm yourself down...?" ventured Snivel timidly, attempting to diffuse the tension in the air.
Elle struggled to contain her anger, recognizing that Snivel was merely a messenger caught in the crossfire of Jack's decisions. However, his last comment ignited a fierce determination within her. With a concentrated effort, she channeled her energy, summoning flames into her right hand. The fire danced and flickered, casting an ominous glow in the room.
As Snivel's eyes widened with fear, the bells on his robes jingled nervously. Elle's narrowed gaze remained fixed on him, her silent command cutting through the tense atmosphere. "Leave," she commanded.
Snivel needed no further prompting. With a frightened glance, he vanished in an instant, leaving behind only the echo of his departure and the lingering scent of burnt ember.
Elle felt proud of herself as she caused the fireball in her hand to vanish nearly as fast as Snivel had. She was getting better at controlling the flames. Only Elle had been two seconds too slow. She set off the fire alarm that was unfortunately placed just above her head. Powerful jets of water soon started streaming down on her as well as all around the coffee shop. A horrible alarm started blaring as well, no doubt the alarm alerting the local fire department the building was in flames. The fire department would have no idea that nothing was wrong up until multiple trucks arrived for inspection to see things for themselves.
"This has not been one of my finer moments," admitted Elle to herself, wiping sopping wet strands of hair from her eyes. Due to what was most definitely the influence of immortals and magic, the file containing the divorce papers was waterproof. Elle grabbed the envelope off the bar top and sure enough, there wasn't a drop of moisture on them even as the sprinkler doused her completely in water. As Elle went in search of her cell phone, she tried thinking of a lie that sounded somewhat plausible to explain not only to Jake but the fire department as well. She was so distracted by what she was going to say that she didn't notice the little girl standing outside of Bean Bodega's front windows. Elle started calling Jake, momentarily forgetting about the little girl. As he finally answered the phone, Elle's mouth slowly fell open. There was something very wrong with this scenario.
A normal child would be dressed in preparation for the cold elements of the outdoors. But the little girl outside was barefoot in the cold and snow; dressed in a fine black gown that didn't reach her ankles. The child looked no more than eight. Her jet-black hair was long and stingy. She had all-white eyeballs with no pupils. The frightening set of eyes were unblinking as they watched the stupefied Elle. But judging solely on the clothing and the milky white eyeballs she had, Elle was assuming the girl wasn't human. There was no way to tell how long the little girl had been there. She could have easily witnessed the entire exchange between Elle and Snivel. As Elle locked eyes with her, the child smiled wickedly. In a matter of a moment, she vanished in a fog of smoke; disappearing as swift as a breeze. Jake was on the phone asking what was wrong, but Elle didn't have words for him. She suddenly pieced together who the child was. It was from memory. Long ago she had come across this same child who was no child at all. The girl was Hel; the Norse goddess of death. Given Elle had gone so long without hearing or seeing immortals she had encountered during her engagement to Jack, the arrival of Hel could only mean one thing.
She had used Snivel's delivery as a way of tracking Elle down.
***
Elle didn't dare leave the confines of the coffee shop. She was too afraid. The scent of coffee grounds and weathered books currently provided her no comfort. She had no way of knowing if Hel was lying in wait, simply biding her time for the perfect moment to kill her. Hel was the Norse goddess of death; responsible for once attempting to capture Elle because of a bounty that had been put on her head. Her father Loki wished to kick start the end of the world as everyone knew it. He had partnered with Jack's sister Khione, the very goddess who had nearly succeeded in murdering Elle.
Elle knew the logical choice for herself would be to scream for Hermes or Apollo at the top of her lungs. She needed to sound the alarm that with the arrival of Hel she was no longer safe. Maybe wherever her immortal friends were in the universe, they could still hear her. They could come and protect her. But that wasn't an option once a familiar person came up to the closed glass door of the shop. Jake looked bewildered as to why the door was locked as Elle scrambled over to open it for him. He was supposed to be off today.
"This place is a mess!" Exclaimed Jake as he looked around the shop. The sprinkler system was only now coming to a stop. All tables, chairs, and walls were going to have severe water damage. Dripping droplets of water clung to walls and ceilings. The biggest travesty was the large wall of rentable books were now fully ruined. Water clumped the pages together, running the ink on the beautiful covers. Elle could have cried by seeing that alone.
Thankfully, the machines of coffee as well as the dozens of bags of grounds or beans decorating the wall behind the bar was still intact without any water damage. But Elle didn't care about how her job was affected by her random burst of anger. Her thoughts were solely fixated on the arrival of Hel and wondering why she was here.
"She shouldn't be," whispered Elle as she began to pace. Not only should Hel have not been on Earth, she should not hold any care whatsoever for Elle's whereabouts. Jack left her. There was no magical prophecy baby due in the future. There was no chance they were reuniting; Elle posed no harm to Loki or his hellish plans. Hel should not care about her. Elle's mumbled words were too low for Jake. He was still babbling about the shop.
"I knew I should have had those faulty outlets switched," he grumbled. "At least I was able to talk to the fire marshal before an entire squad of trucks showed up," he continued, admiring the damage of the shop. Each step he took made a sopping splash of a sound.
All of this should have been good news for Elle. Jake wasn't upset, he even had pre-made excuses at the ready so she didn't have to scramble to formulate one. There were also no cameras in Bean Bodega showcasing what had happened between Elle and Snivel. She should have been relieved. But all Elle could feel was anxiety kicking in.
Jake stepped toward her. He wore a frown. "Hey, it's alright, there's no fire."
Elle gave a dry laugh. The poor guy had no idea of knowing that fire wasn't a concern to someone who whose mother was a volcano goddess. The entire building could have started aflame, and Elle was positively certain she would fair fine in the hypothetical scenario. "I know," said Elle, gently removing herself from his feather-light touch. He looked worried. "Why do you look so afraid...?"
She couldn't tell him her reason why. He was human. Poor Jake had no idea of knowing the entire universe was much larger than it seemed. Gods and monsters were real as he was. There was no way to tell him a quite literal goddess of death was probably stalking out the coffee shop as they spoke. His safety was now Elle's concern. Hel could kill him quite easily if she wanted. Elle's memory returned to the day Hel came to claim the bounty that was on her head. The goddess had brought hell hounds with her...
"I've got to go," said Elle at once, hurrying behind the counter to grab her bag and the jacket that were underneath. Jake tried talking to her once more, but Elle didn't pay him attention. She couldn't focus on the mess she left or what her manager was probably thinking in that moment. Elle didn't want him or anyone else at risk if hellhounds were near.
***