I Need You To Devour Me

by Nessasephra24601

Summary:

A not-so-ordinary day and one chance encounter turns into a struggle for control, power, and a starving need for flesh in more ways than one.

Chapter 1: Bitten

Charlie was frustrated. 

Not with the hotel, per se.

Sure, it had its occasional drawbacks, like the constant need for repairs from Cherri tossing a rogue lobber or two whenever she needed to, quite literally, blow off some steam. Or the toilets that were backed up for one reason or another; everyone kept telling Niffty that she didn’t need to flush herself to go after the bugs hiding in the pipes, but the concept never really seemed to get through to her. Charlie didn’t even want to think about the kitchen fires that broke out on a nearly daily basis at the most inopportune times or how she managed to work herself into a frenzy despite their frequent occurrence and Vaggi always on standby with a fire extinguisher; that was a whole other pack of Hellhounds she didn’t even want to get into. 

Hells bells, it wasn’t even with the guests. 

When Cherri wasn’t blowing something up and Niffty wasn’t getting stuck in the toilet, it was always something else. A bicker from one end of the hallway to the next. Fist fights in the courtyard while other Sinners placed bets on their favorite to win; Husk had gotten an earful for participating in that. Visitors from Cannibal Town trying to lure people away for an early dinner. Goofing off during group therapy. Sex in the broom closets…. A LOT of sex in the broom closets. Thefts. Riots. Attempted murder. 

Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

That was the thing, though. She loved every moment of it. Did she wish things were going more smoothly and that more people had gotten into Heaven by then besides Pentious? Sure. It would have made her whole life easier, but that was the thing about Hell. Nothing was ever easy. Having been born and raised there, that was a lesson she’d had to learn over and over and over again, and it was likely a lesson she’d have to keep learning, given her track record, but every bump, hitch, and mistake made along the way made the Sinners who they were. She loved them for all their flaws and she loved even more that they were trying. It would take time and patience, something she didn’t always feel she had in abundance, but they were on the path to redemption and she couldn’t be more proud of them. 

No, her frustration lay elsewhere. Not in the hotel. Not in the Sinners. Not without, but within. 

She’d done her best to ignore it. To put it out of her mind like an intrusive thought or bug bite that she refused to scratch, but it persisted, crawling under her skin and leaving her a hot, sweaty mess that had nothing to do with the heat of Hell. It wasn’t as if she’d never dealt with it, either. She knew that prickle like the back of her hand and had always found ways to deal with it. The trouble was, though, that she’d always had help. 

Before, it had been Vaggi. Her now ex-girlfriend hadn’t fully understood what Charlie was going through, but she’d always been willing to do her part to alleviate the stress and provide a distraction until the time came it no longer persisted. Even before that, there was Seviathan, another ex of hers that she tried not to think too much about due to the unfortunate outcome of their relationship. He hadn’t been as good as Vaggi, not by a long shot due to his mostly unintentional self-serving ways, but he’d, at least on some level, understood what she needed and gave it to her when the situation demanded 

She didn’t have them to rely on anymore, however. She was sure Vaggi would still be willing to lend a hand if she asked, but it wouldn’t have been fair to either of them. They had separated amicably enough, though no breakup ever really comes without a bit of heartbreak for her, and she just couldn’t bring herself to risk dredging up old emotions that had finally settled down just for the sake of alleviation. Seviathan would have jumped at the chance, too, no doubt, but she knew for sure he would try to leverage the circumstances to try and get back together with her. That was one bridge better left burning in a lake of Hellfire. Besides that, she hadn’t seen nor spoken to him in ages and it wouldn’t be fair to him, either, to ask for such a favor only to cut him out again. 

This time, unfortunately, she was on her own. 

After three days without any reprieve, she simply couldn’t take it anymore and distracted herself with work as best she could, throwing herself into each task with as much gusto and effort as she could extend. And the hotel really seemed to thrive because of it. Group therapy sessions became more frequent, trust and team building exercises were more creative, and destructive tendencies were going down. By a small percentage, at least, but a win was still a win. The Sinners under her care noticed and appreciated it all, too. Well, most of them, anyway. Some still didn’t trust her enough to let their guards down just yet, but the ones that did sang her praises enough to make her feel like they were finally making some headway on their journey. It was not only a distraction, but a chance for everyone to learn and grow in their own way. And it was working…

For a time. 

Then he came into the picture. 

It was about four days into her new routine. 

Get up, get dressed, eat a quick breakfast, and head straight into work. The fast pace she put herself through was enough to leave her feeling dizzy, but it was also yet another trick she’d discovered to put the frustration and prickling at the back of her mind. She wasn’t about to give it up, even if she did feel like she was about to lose the breakfast she’d just eaten. That morning was no different. Up, dressed, eat, work, dizzy. 

Thankfully, though, the first thing she always did was check and update the guest ledger, so it gave her stomach time to settle and make the room stop spinning. And, truthfully, she also started there because it was her favorite thing to do. Seeing all of those names written down, all of those people willing to change themselves for the better and put their faith in her to help them do that, well, it was enough to make her cry, and a lot of times it did. 

That morning was no different, though she wasn’t entirely sure if it was the usual pride or her temporarily altered mental and physical state that left a few stray tears running down her cheeks. She wiped them away periodically as she read over each name, thinking of each face that was attached to the different variations of handwriting, some of them in elegant scrawls and others that looked like they were scribbled  by a toddler. Every one of them was a reminder of a soul who needed her.

Usually, she’d only read the first page and then maybe go back one or two as those were the more recent guests; so many new names, so many new faces since they’d managed to prove redemption really did work. The hotel had never been so packed and she couldn’t be happier about it. The rest of the names she practically knew by heart, but she was feeling a bit nostalgic and perhaps in need of a proper cry, so she broke out of the norm and flipped back further. It was a blast from the past seeing those familiar names from the early days after the hotel had been rebuilt and she couldn’t help but smile even as the tears came faster, wiping them away with the heel of her hand more frequently. Some of them were still there, scattered about the hotel doing one thing or another, while others were crossed out, deciding that redemption wasn’t for them and they were better off in Hell. It hurt enough to think about them, wondering if they were okay and surviving well enough out there, but the two at the top were like a knife in her chest. 

Angel Dust and Sir Pentious. Their first guests and also their greatest losses. 

At the very least, she knew Pentious was safe. Safe and happy and waiting not always quite so patiently for friends to join him up in Heaven. He had died for their sake, yet lived to prove that redemption was possible. Crossing his name out had hurt almost as much as thinking they’d lost him, but now his beautifully intricate signature was adorned with little drawings of rainbows, happy faces, and a likeness of him with angel wings and all beside it, done by her hand, of course. She still missed him and his quirky ways, but the regular communication provided by Emily made the sting a little less hard and knowing he had succeeded made it all worthwhile. 

She only wished she could say the same about Angel. No one had heard so much as a peep from him since he’d left and gone back to Vee Tower, not even Cherri, who had been his partner in crime for so long that they might as well have been siblings. At best, she knew he was alive due to the occasional new posters or advertisements for his naughty films that would pop up more frequently than not, but knowing someone was alive wasn’t the same as knowing they were well, especially being under the thumb of someone like Valentino and knowing the cruelty he was capable of. 

It’d been a devastating blow to find out from Husk and Cherri about Angel’s decision and she’d very much wanted to go after him to convince him to come back, but at the end of the day it had to be his choice to stay, not hers, and they all needed to respect his decision. Husk didn’t seem to like her response when she’d told him that, but he eventually agreed, though she could tell he was taking it harder than anyone. They had become rather good friends, after all, and Husk didn’t seem to have that many to begin with. His grief was as understandable as anyone's, though it didn’t make it any easier. 

She let out a heavy sigh as she traced the ink with the tip of her nail, his name crossed out with a regretful ‘x’, trying not to stain the pages of the ledger with any more tears than she already had whenever she stared at it. “Oh, Angel,” she said, her voice cracking as she fought not to become a blubbering mess in the lobby, “I really hope you’re okay… and… and I really hope you come back to us one day.” She stared at his name a moment longer, letting the pain subside for the time being before she let out another heavy sigh and started to close the book, deciding it was time to-.

“I really don’t think he will, my dear.” 

Charlie nearly jumped out of her own skin as she let out a yelp, the ledger flying into the air as her arms flailed and she fought to catch it. Once she managed to stop fumbling with it and get it back in her hands, she closed it before setting it down and releasing the breath she’d been holding. Clutching her chest, she tried to steady herself as she looked up, meeting the familiar gaze across from her. “Alastor. Oh, geez…” she huffed, her chest slowly unclenching as she took deep breaths. “You just scared the shit out of me. I didn’t even hear you coming.” 

Not that anyone ever really did. That man could cross a room covered in bubble wrap and cellophane and you’d never even know he was there unless you were looking straight at him. Hells bells, even then you might not have known given how quick and sneaky he was. How a Sinner his size got around so quietly, she would never understand, but it was probably for the best she didn’t. 

Alastor smirked, clicking his tongue in mock sympathy, his tone shifting to sarcasm as he leaned against the front desk and propped his head up by the elbows as he rested his chin on the back of his interlocked hands. “Forgive me, darling. I would never want to do that to anyone, least of all you. It’s not as if your reaction isn’t hilarious each time it happens.” 

“Yes, very funny, haha,” she said just as sarcastically, rolling her eyes and busying herself with wiping imaginary dust off the ledger so she could avoid looking at him. “You definitely didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Oh, no, have I upset the princess?” he asked dramatically and far too theatrically. “Whatever shall I do? I must right this wrong immediately and atone for all my sins!” He straightened himself before doing a full one hundred and eighty, placing the back of his hand to his forehead, and flopping back on the desk like a woman swooning in an old black and white movie. He held that pose for a few seconds then gasped as if something had just occurred to him and smiled wider, his eyes just as wide as he stared up at her. “I know! I’ll go to that hotel filled with failures and nobodies who couldn’t cut it in life and are now trying to fix things in the afterlife despite already wasting the one chance they had! That place for fools and aimless Sinners! If only I could recall its name… It’s right there on the tip of my tongue…”

“Alastor,” Charlie growled in warning, glaring down at him. 

He gasped again and stared at her as if just realizing she was there despite having looked her in the eye the entire time. “Good Miss, perhaps you can help me! Do you know the name of such a place? I hear it is becoming quite the popular destination with the locals, though I can’t seem to understand why! This is Hell, after all! Who in their right mind would want to leave?” 

She huffed indignantly, sticking her hand in the space between his ears and taking hold of the ledger beneath his head. “People who are trying to make themselves better and not bring everyone else down with them, that’s who.” None too gently, she yanked the book out from under him quickly enough that he didn’t have time to catch himself before his head hit the surface of the desk with an audible ‘thunk.’ She felt a stab of guilt, regret, and pity as he pulled himself up and rubbed at the back of his skull, but quickly put it from her mind and turned away to put the ledger back in its place just as he started to face her again. 

He chuckled, finding amusement in the oddest and most inopportune of situations, before leaning on the desk again and crossing his arms on the surface to support his weight. “Do calm down, darling. I was only teasing.” He rolled his eyes this time, but she didn’t see it as she kept her back to him, trying to make herself look busy; to make him leave, he wondered? “And, if it makes you feel any better,” he sighed, hiding another roll of his eyes as he briefly looked to the side despite the fact she still couldn’t see it, “I wasn’t actually intending to scare you a moment ago. I only stopped over for a quick chat before I took up my post, that’s all.” Charlie paused and turned her head slightly, though she didn’t face him fully yet, and he smirked again. “Scaring you was just an added bonus.” Her entire body snapped in his direction and he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her look quite so livid with him. He smirked wider; something about that expression was adorably endearing, especially on the princess of sunshine and rainbows. “The cherry atop the sundae, if you will.”

“Ugh, goodbye, Alastor!” she huffed again, moving around the side of the desk and storming away. She didn’t get very far, though, before he appeared in front of her again, rising from the floor out of the confines of his shadow after it’d slithered after her, stopping her dead in her tracks. 

“Now, now, Charlie. No need to be so testy,” he said in a reprimanding tone that was more playful than scolding. “I am honestly beginning to wonder if Vaggine hasn’t rubbed her naturally foul mood off on you today!” She glared up at him, not a hint of mirth on her face as she scowled and crossed her arms, her foot tapping to an agitated beat. He raised a brow as he stared at it, confusion written plainly in his smile. “Goodness, you really are in a mood. What has you so worked up?” She gave him a pointed look, her own brow raising. “Well, besides me, I suppose.” 

Charlie sighed once, letting all of her aggravation go with it, and released the tension in her shoulders as she let them fall. “I’m sorry. It’s not just you, Alastor. I just have a lot on my plate right now and I shouldn’t be taking it all out on you. Now, did you actually need something or can I be on my way? I have a busy schedule today, after all.” 

She’d had a busy schedule a lot the last few days, Alastor had noticed, but chose not to voice the fact he had bothered to take account of such things. Instead, he raised his hands up to the level of his shoulders with his palms facing toward her in a surrendering gesture. “Alright, alright. I give. Even I know better than to get in the way of a woman trying to make it through her busy day. So how about we settle this dispute, then, hm? Start with a friendly good morning and shake like old pals? What do you say? Truce?” He held his right hand out toward her and folded the other behind his back, waiting patiently for her to take it. 

Charlie tried not to flinch, but still did despite herself; she then tried to hide it by quickly shifting her weight from one foot to the other, but she knew he’d seen it as his eyes narrowed slightly, though he said nothing as he continued to wait. It was silly of her, really, and she knew that. Alastor clearly didn’t have any ulterior motives behind the action, or at least none that she could see, yet she couldn’t help but be cautious. The last time she’d shaken his hand had landed her in a seemingly harmless deal that ended up giving Vox a mad power boost that ultimately destroyed nearly half of Pentagram City as he and Alastor fought their decades old rivalry. And, while she was certain nothing like that would happen again this time, it was still better to err on the side of caution around him. 

Still, though, she just couldn’t bring herself to leave him hanging. This was perhaps as close to an apology as she was ever going to get from him and she was all about apologies. As she’d once said and sang, that’s where it starts, and at least he was making some sort of attempt with her; not that she could ever really say that out loud or he’d never do it again, of course. Plus, it was getting pretty awkward to just stand there staring up at him in the middle of the lobby with the guests starting to mill about the hotel and looking at them like they were crazy, so there really was only one thing left to do. 

Releasing the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and letting a nervous smile spread across her face, she slowly raised her right hand toward his. “Alright, Alastor, you win. It’s a tru-.” As soon as their hands closed around each others, her breath hitched and she immediately went as rigid as a rock, her eyes as wide and panicked as if someone had just set fireworks off in the room right then and there… again. Her throat felt tight and hot despite the cold sweat forming across her brow as she tried to speak. “It’s… No, but… It’s not… Oh, fuck.” 

“Charlie…? What have you done-?” Alastor asked, looking down at their hands as she unconsciously gripped his tighter. 

“I.. I didn’t… I would never… We- I- You-,” she stammered, trying to form a coherent sentence that actually made sense but failing miserably. Her eyes darted down to their clasped hands again, unable to focus on anything else besides the way his fingers were curled around her skin and the feel of his palm pressed into hers. When she looked back up again, his face was so close to hers that she could feel his quickened breath fanning her face and his eyes bored so deep into hers that she just simply couldn’t think anymore; his face was unreadable, but she just knew hers was all over the place. “I… I’m sorry, I have to go!” she just barely managed to get out before she tore away from him and ran straight out of the lobby like it was on fire. 

Everything was a blur. She really didn’t know where she was going or if she’d ever had a destination to begin with, but she just couldn’t be bothered to care. She half expected Alastor to appear out of the shadows and stop her in her tracks again. Much to her relief, however, he didn’t. Not that she really could have been stopped if he tried. She was a whirlwind, tearing through the halls and knocking other demons aside like they were bowling pins. She might have passed Vaggi at one point, Vaggi might have been holding the bottom end of a ladder, and Vaggi might have called after her, but she couldn’t be bothered to care about that, either. She just needed to go. She just needed to run. She just needed to. 

It wasn’t until after she was barreling into her room, slamming the door and locking it behind her, that she finally understood where. Her heart was pounding and her breathing erratic, though it had very little to do with the running. Alone and trapped with only her thoughts in the solitude, she finally let those thoughts she’d been containing free. If she didn’t, she feared she’d go mad. 

“What was that? Oh, fuck, no. How can this be true? It just can’t be! And with Alastor, of all people? No, no, no. It’s just not right! It just can’t be! It’s just not possible!” she said, her fingers tangling into her hair and nails gripping into her scalp as she paced back and forth erratically about the room. “Well, it can’t really be that simple, can it? Nothing is ever that simple in Hell! Least of all Alastor! Ugh, what in the Seven Rings is wrong with me!? It’s just not- I’m not- Ugh, fuck, fuck, FUCK!” 

She stopped pacing long enough to let her hands slide down her face until the heels of her hands were pressed into her eyelids and let out a heavy groan that tapered into a sad and pathetic sound as she sank to her knees on the floor. Despite the flurry of emotions still swirling and spinning about inside of her like an untamed snow storm, she finally let her body rest for a moment and relax, feeling it physically deflate like a balloon. No longer quite so stiff and rigid, she also took that time to just breathe and collect herself. 

“Okay, okay. Be calm, Charlie. Be calm,” she said to herself in a soft and soothing voice. “Just take slow, deep breaths.” She followed her own advice, breathing in for four seconds and out for six, just like she’d taught so many others. In four, out six. In and out. In. Out. Repeating the process until her heartbeat was not quite so quick and her anxiety didn’t make her feel like jumping out of the windows behind her. “That’s it, Charlie. Nice and easy. Now, let’s think about this rationally, okay? 

“What happened wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Alastor’s fault, either. It wasn’t anyone's fault. Things are just… tricky, right now,” she reassured herself, seeming to like that conclusion as she talked herself through it. “Yes, that’s it, tricky! You’re not yourself right now and things just got out of hand. You just got caught up in the moment. A moment that means nothing, right? Right. Your emotions are all over the place and it’s not good for you to let yourself get carried away by them. Heaven's gates, you can barely control them on a good day, least of all now! It was just a one time thing. Just a fluke. And it’ll never happen again, right? Right! So, the best thing for you to do now would be to find Alastor and apolo-.”

She cut herself off, her thoughts clouding her calm as a realization dawned on her. She liked the idea. She liked the idea of seeing Alastor. She liked the idea of seeing Alastor very much. She liked it too much. She wanted to find him right then and there. She wanted the feel of his hand on hers again. The fan of his hot breath across her face. For him to smile a smile that sent shivers all the way down her spine and take her in his arms and-

Charlie tensed, that familiar frustration mounting as her nails dug so hard into the carpet that she could hear it tearing and feel the fibers sliding under them. She dug her hips into the floor, trying to cut off the sudden flow of her blood where it definitely shouldn’t be while she was having those thoughts. When that didn’t work, she pressed them in harder. Too hard. She hissed and stopped applying pressure all together as she lifted them, knowing it wasn’t going to work. 

“No, no, no, no, no,” she repeated quietly, her fingers threading into her hair again, her head shaking back and forth slowly, forgetting everything she’d just told herself as the fear and panic came back with crushing force. “It’s not true… It’s just not true… I can’t be… I just won’t… Not with him… Not with Alastor… I can’t be a-.”

A sudden hurried knock at the door cut her off and pulled her out of her self loathing as her head snapped up toward the sound, a sharp gasp hissing past her lips. She stared at the door like it’d just slapped her, her throat working as she tried to swallow past the nervous lump lodged within it and her thoughts raced along with the pounding of her heart. 

What if it was Alastor? Of course it was him. Who else could it be? Had he come to find her after all? Why would he do that? Hadn’t he seen the panic on her face? Didn’t he realize she needed her space? What if that was the reason he was there? That was his whole thing, right? He liked seeing people at their lowest? Well, she certainly looked the part, kneeling on the floor and feeling sorry for herself. Why would he have bothered to knock, though? He’d never bothered before. Not that he came to her room regularly, of course, but if he actually wanted in a door certainly wouldn’t stop him. That also wasn’t his signature knock. Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits had been stuck in her head since the day he’d arrived. The more she thought about it, it just didn’t make sense, so why would he-?

Another set of frenzied knocks cut her off again and she jumped slightly at the voice that came from the other side. “Hey, Charlie?” She sucked in a breath she didn’t know she was holding and immediately expelled it as she sighed with relief. She practically jumped to her feet as another set of knocks came and the doorknob was tried as she hurried toward it. “Charlie, are you in there? Someone said they saw you come this way and I just wanted to check on you because-.” She unlocked the handle and threw open the door in one weirdly awkward fluid motion as soon as she reached it, making the one on the other side flinch and eyes go wide. 

“Ah! Shit. What the fuck? Warn me next time before you-,” Vaggie started, just beginning to sound ticked off when she noticed Charlie's disheveled appearance, her hair a tangled mess and suit as rumpled as a piece of crumpled paper, as well as the unshed tears in her eyes. As soon as Charlie saw her, her lips tightened and started to quiver like she was fighting the urge to actually cry. “Charlie? What in the Seven Rings happened!? Are you ok-?” 

Charlie grabbed Vaggi by the wrist faster than either of them could comprehend what she was doing and yanked her into the room, slamming and locking the door just as quickly as she’d opened it, her body braced against the wooden structure like someone was going to try and storm in down if at any second. “I am so fucked.” 

“Whoa, wait, what?” Vaggi asked, having staggered a few steps after practically being thrown, just managing to catch herself before tumbling to the floor. She turned to Charlie in a mixture of bewilderment and protective nature, scanning her for any signs of harm or immediate danger. When she found none, her confusion deepened, because it was obvious the other woman hadn’t been hurt physically, but her mental state was far less than exemplary. “Charlie, what the Hell happened? Are you okay?”

“No… Yes… I think… Maybe… Ugh, I don’t know!” Charlie replied pitifully, accidentally slamming the back of her head against the door as she threw it back a little too forcefully. “Ow,” she murmured whilst rubbing furiously at the back of her head; the trouble was, though, that the action only reminded her of a certain someone doing the exact same thing not even an hour prior. 

Vaggi could only watch in further increasing confusion as Charlie’s expression shifted at an alarming rate. It went from perturbed, then frustrated as her entire body went rigid, and finally outright demented as she stormed away from the door. As Charlie went, Vaggi not quite sure where she intended to go, she grabbed at fistfulls of her hair and cried out in a demonic voice, “This is so unfair!” 

Charlie hadn’t been sure where she was going, either, until her legs hit the bed and she fell onto the mattress with an audible ‘thump.’ Even in her altered headspace, she knew how dramatic it all must have looked; the Princess of Hell, splayed out face down on her bed like an awkward starfish with the bottom half of her legs still hanging over the side, muttering incoherently into the covers as if they had offended her in some malicious way. She didn’t much care, though. In all of Hell, she was with one of the very few people who could talk her off the ledge and genuinely care about what she was going through rather than ridicule her for it. 

And the princess was right. The angel knew just what to do. 

Unbeknownst to her, Charlie’s display had actually been a welcomed sight for Vaggi. Or at least it was enough to confirm that this was a ‘normal’ Charlie crashout and not a ‘catastrophic’ one. ‘Normal’ she could handle. ‘Normal’ she could work with. 

After a brief chuckle hidden behind her fist and soft sigh, Vaggi walked slowly over to the bed, letting Charlie get out more of her tantrum as she kicked her legs up and down repeatedly like a child having a fit while she continued to mutter and grumble. The angel climbed up beside the princess and laid on her belly, her arms crossed as she rested her cheek on them, waiting and watching a moment longer as Charlie got it all out of her system. “Hey,” she finally said in a soothing tone, one that’d taken a bit of practice but plenty of opportunities to master for just such occasions, and nudged her with a small tap of her elbow, “what’s wrong?” 

Charlie lifted her head just high enough to suck in a breath before it flopped back down onto the bed with a heavy sigh. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine,” she replied, her words just barely audible nor understandable, but Vaggi’d had plenty of practice with that, too. 

“Really?” Vaggi nearly laughed. “Because you didn’t exactly seem fine when you blew past us and knocked Baxter off a ladder a few minutes ago.” 

“Did I?” Charlie asked in an almost uncaring tone before the words finally registered and her head shot up so quickly it nearly made Vaggi jump, her expression showing one of visible distress. “Wait, what!? I didn’t hurt him, did I!? Where is he? I should go find him and-!” 

“Whoa, whoa. Easy, Charlie. Easy. Calm down,” Vaggie interrupted before the frenzy could fully take over, her hand raising as if she were going to reach out to Charlie, but quickly thought better of it and made a halting motion instead so it wasn’t just awkwardly hanging there. “Baxter is fine. Luckily, I was able to catch him in time before any major damage could be done.”

“Oh,” Charlie said, slowly laying back down. She’d very nearly jumped off the bed completely in her panic and haste to make sure their friend was safe and let out another heavy sigh once she was down again. This time, however, she adjusted her position to match Vaggi’s, allowing the two to converse properly. “Okay… Okay.” She was speaking to Vaggi, though her tone suggested she was saying this more as a reassurance than for carrying on a conversation. “Thank God he’s okay. I would’ve felt so bad if I’d hurt him.” 

“Oh, he’s definitely okay, alright,” Vaggi huffed in a mix of annoyance and sardonyx despite the forced smile on her face. “Okay enough to give me an earful for it afterwards.” Charlie suddenly looked and felt more guilty, making Vaggi realize she needed to explain further, her tone still annoyed but with a more passive tone. “Don’t worry. He wasn’t mad at you. He was angry with me because apparently I made him drop one of his new experiments when I caught him. I guess saving his ungrateful ass meant nothing compared to breaking a stupid little lightbulb.” 

Charlie was quiet for a few seconds, the gears all but physically turning in her head. “He was experimenting… with… lightbulbs?” Even saying it out loud, she couldn’t seem to wrap her head around why something so small and insignificant would make him so upset that he’d chew Vaggi out over it no matter how hard she tried. And she really, really tried. 

“Eh, something about devising a method of tapping into Hell’s electrical grid so we wouldn’t have to pay for electricity anymore. He explained how it would have worked, but I didn’t really understand. It did sound like a good idea, though, so I agreed to help him set it up,” Vaggi explained, giving a light shrug along the way. “This one was still in the ‘testing’ phase, apparently, and he needed a strong set of wires to see if it would work, but the rats and bugs have been at a lot of the wiring on the lower floors, of course, so we had to go higher. He nearly had the damn thing in, too, after a whole hour of fiddling with the old fixture, before you knocked into us.” Charlie opened her mouth to speak but, before she could even utter a single sound, Vaggi was already holding a hand up again to stop her. “You don’t have to apologize. I know it was an accident, so I’m not mad about that, either. You do, however, officially owe me one for ignoring me and leaving me to deal with Baxter alone, especially after I called for you so many times.” 

Vaggi’s tone hadn’t been serious, and she made that blatantly obvious in the nonchalant way she propped up an elbow and rested her cheek in her palm as she closed her only eye, but Charlie still couldn’t get rid of the mounting guilt that was steadily getting worse. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Something happened a bit ago and I was freaking out about it. Hell, I’m still freaking out about it. I promise, though, I’ll find a way to make it up to you. Both you and Baxter.”

Vaggi chuckled lightly at her sincerity before she reopened her eyelid and peaked out from under it, a smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Okaaaay,” she drawled teasingly. “Well, you can start by helping Baxter out here in a few weeks when he tests his bulb out again. He said that’s how long it would take to make another working prototype and I do not feel like dealing with this mess again.” 

Charlie nodded along somewhat enthusiastically, silently hoping that Baxter would have calmed down by then and gotten over his anger so he wouldn’t try to chew her out, too. “Of course. That’s the least I can do.” 

Vaggie smiled fully as she let her arm drop back down and nodded once sharply as if the action was setting the agreement in stone. “Good. So, now that that’s settled, how about you finally answer my question and tell me what’s wrong?”

Charlie frowned, feeling like she’d been tricked somehow, and bit her lip slightly as she tried to think of a convincing response. “I… I already told you. Nothing’s wrong and everything’s fine.” 

“Com’on, Charlie. You know I don’t believe that for a second,” Vaggi shook her head slightly. “You said so yourself. Something had you so freaked out that you were running around the halls like a mad woman. Just tell me. Whatever it is, we can figure it out together.” 

Charlie puffed out her cheeks defiantly and shook her head furiously. “No. I don’t want to talk about it.” 

Vaggi huffed. “Charlie, please don’t be difficult. Tell me what’s wrong or I can’t help you.” 

“No. I don’t want to,” Charlie repeated, hiding her face again as she buried it in her arms. 

“Oh, for the love of-,” Vaggi grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose a bit too harshly. She quickly corrected herself, knowing that frustration would get her nowhere in their conversation, so she switched her battle tactics. She placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as she scooted closer while angling her body to face the princess properly, feeling her rigid posture slowly relax at her touch. Once Charlie wasn’t quite so stiff, Vaggi switched to lightly rubbing circles around her back to soothe her further. “Oye, escúchame un momento, ¿vale?” 

Charlie took a moment before nodding slowly, glad to have her tension eased, even if only temporarily. “Okay. I’m listening.” 

“Okay, good,” Vaggi said, sighing softly under her breath, “because we both know how you get when you start freaking out. You tend to stop listening, keep everything bottled up inside, and then you start lashing out at people. I know you don’t mean to. You have one of the kindest hearts I know, but the people who love you can’t help you if you internalize all your problems. It’s like you told me, ‘You gotta let people in sometimes, you know?’ And I know that’s hard for you. It was hard for me, too, but you’ve always been there for me through the rough patches and I want to be able to be there for you, too. So, what do you say? Will you please tell me what’s wrong?” 

Charlie groaned, long, loud, and hard. How could she possibly explain what’d just happened? She couldn’t even explain it to herself, let alone Vaggi, of all people. Despite her doubts, however, she knew she really wanted to. She also knew her habit of internalization could be very destructive if she wasn’t careful, but was it even fair of her to put this kind of burden on someone? Especially someone she’d been dating not so long ago…

“Please, Charlie? For me?” Vaggi asked once it became clear Charlie was too distracted by her own thoughts to answer. “You’d be making me feel better… It’d be a really big help to me if you did.” 

That was enough for Charlie to finally peek an eye out of her hiding place and see the coy yet concerned smirk Vaggi wore as their eyes met, which all but sealed the deal. After lifting her head to take a deep breath, one long inhale through her nose and then slowly out of her mouth, she unfurled herself from her makeshift shelter. Crawling further up the bed, she eventually made her way into a seated position and turned to face Vaggi while leaving a foot or so between them, the already-made-bed be damned. She stared down, glanced at Vaggi once, and then quickly looked back down again. “I’m… I’m not even sure where to begin.” 

“Well… let’s start at the very beginning,” Vaggi shrugged before her tone turned playful, “a very good place to start.” 

Charlie couldn’t help but laugh despite her inner turmoil. “Hey!” She reached up a hand and gave Vaggi’s shoulder a light shove, still giggling. “Don’t go using a quote from my favorite musical against me!” 

“Oh, please,” Vaggi laughed, gently swatting her arm away. “I’m never against you. I’m always with you. You know that, right?” 

“Yeah… right,” Charlie agreed, the humor slowly leaving her face as the laughter died down, “but that’s what makes it so hard to tell you…” 

“Tell me what, Charlie? Trust me, whatever it is, it’ll be okay. We’ll figure out how to deal with whatever this is. We always do,” Vaggi said reassuringly, scooting a bit closer so they weren’t quite so far apart. 

“Right,” Charlie agreed again with a slight nod, trying to collect her jumbled thoughts and ease the tension that was quickly coming back despite Vaggi’s best efforts. “Right,” she said again, more as a reassurance for herself this time, and hardened her resolve. “Okay, I’m ready.” 

As she opened her mouth to reveal everything, however, a thought occurred to her and Charlie found herself looking all around them. Her eyes darted about, searching for any subtle sign of movement or other presence that might be in there with them. What if Alastor really was listening? Hiding in the shadows? Having slipped in when she’d opened the door for Vaggi? Or through a crack in the wall not even she was aware of? Or what if he’d sent one of his minions, the creepy little doll-like creature watching with its beady eyes and listening for its master? These intrusive thoughts left her anxious, agitated, and shaking with an emotion she couldn’t force herself to face at the moment. 

“Charlie?” Vaggi said, watching Charlie’s head swivel back and forth like it was connected to a motor, both confused by her actions and antsy for answers. “Are you, uh… What the Hell are you doing?” 

“I…” Charlie started, finally stopping her rapid movements just in time to avoid a spell of dizziness. She glanced at Vaggi as she bit her bottom lip nervously, looked around one final time just to be safe, and finally gestured for the angel to come closer. Vaggi looked even more confused, but didn’t fight her as she scooted across the bed. Charlie just kept beckoning her closer, though, until the two were practically chest to shoulder. Satisfied with this proximity, she leaned in close and cupped her hand around Vaggi’s ear to whisper her secrets. “You see, what happened was that I…” 

Charlie finally spilled her guts. And it felt good. Really good. She hadn’t been sure it was the right thing to tell Vaggi after everything that’d happened between them. The pressure had been bubbling up inside her like a shaken can of soda, though, and she’d have burst if she didn’t. 

And, much to Vaggi’s credit, she listened patiently, nodding along and humming in affirmation every once in a while. There wasn’t a trace of judgement on her face, though she did seem shocked at key points of information. Charlie knew she really did want to help, though, so it was best if she knew all the sorted details to better assess the situation and reach the best possible outcome. 

Once Charlie finally finished, Vaggi blinked once… twice… and finally a third time to round it off as she stared at nothing particular across the room. “Well, that’s, um… that’s certainly a lot to take in.” 

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Charlie agreed apprehensively as she pulled away, letting herself speak at a normal volume. 

“Well…” Vaggi said again, trying to collect her thoughts into something coherent. “Well, I guess it makes sense. You are showing the usual… symptoms.” She gave Charlie a once over, collecting a silent catalog to see how far her condition had progressed. “How long has it been going on, anyway? You look like you’ve hit the worst of it already.” 

A brief pause ensued before Charlie answered. “About a week.” 

“A week!?” Vaggi exclaimed, feeling her wings nearly pop out in her exasperation. Charlie jumped at her sudden outburst and Vaggi quickly took control of her emotions again. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just… A week? Wow, you must have it bad this time. You certainly never got like this when we were together.” She tried her best to sound well meaning when she laughed despite her twinge of jealousy, though neither of them could deny the awkward tension between them. Charlie couldn’t even bring herself to join her, so Vaggi hid it behind a cough. “So… who was it? I wanna meet the lucky soul that has the usually cheerful and chipper Charlie Morningstar so frazzled and out of it that she’d knock someone off a ladder without realizing it.”

Okay, so maybe Charlie hadn’t spilled all of her guts. She just couldn’t bring herself to mention that it’d been Alastor of all Sinners who she’d had that fateful encounter with that morning. She’d barely been able to tell Vaggi as much as she had to begin with without nearly having a panic attack over it and Vaggi’d had enough of a reaction from that. Nevermind telling her everything, everything. 

If Charlie was sure of at least one thing, it was that she definitely shouldn’t say it was Alastor. 

“I… I really don’t want to say,” she finally replied, looking away as she wrapped her arms protectively around herself, like she could somehow keep it all together if she simply did it physically. 

Vaggi sighed, rolling her eyes as she shook her head, her tone audibly aggravated. “Charlie-.” 

“I mean it, Vaggi,” Charlie interrupted sharply, her expression turning hard and serious as she kept her gaze away. “I don’t want to tell you. I… I can’t. Now right now. Fuck… maybe not even ever. It’s not even about you and me or anything. It’s just… There’s just too much going on with me and the hotel and everything else. I can’t let this be another thing that piles up on top of it all. So… Please, for both our sakes… don’t ask me to say who it is.” She glanced up for the briefest of seconds before she had to look away again, the shock and confusion on Vaggi’s face leaving a thick stab of guilt deep in her chest that would have twisted and torn if she’d looked any longer. “Please.” 

Vaggi blinked. Once… twice… and then released a heavy breath. “Okay.” Charlie dared to look out the corner of her eye and found the angel with a soft expression of understanding; she in turn looked uncertain and Vaggi noticed quickly. “Really, Charlie. It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. I mean, it doesn’t even really matter anyway, does it? You don’t plan on doing anything about all of this with them, right?” 

“No,” Charlie said quickly, though perhaps a little too quickly for it to be certain for either of them. “I mean… No… No, definitely not. That sort of thing could never happen. Not with them, anyway. They wouldn’t be into that sort of thing. And I don’t even think I want to. It all just happened so fast. I think… I think maybe I just got confused or something? Maybe I mistook the signs? I don’t know… It’s just been so long since… Well…” Vaggi nodded, a solemn look on her face and her jealousy not so much a twinge anymore. Charlie pressed on, sorry she’d brought that up. “Anyway, it was only for a second or two. And only our hands touched, thank goodness. That was it. There was nothing more to it, so it should have remained as nothing. I really should have just stayed to confirm that it was in fact nothing, if only for myself, but I didn’t. I ran off like a coward and now it feels like it’s too late. I’ve already done enough damage as it is and I honestly didn’t mean to pull them into my drama. It just… happened. And it wasn’t supposed to happen. And what if it does happen again? Not just with them, but someone else, too? Ugh. God, Vaggi. What am I going to do?”

Vaggi begag nodding her head again slowly, using the non answer to mull over her next words carefully, an idea starting to form in her head. “Well, if you think about it, that makes our… I mean, your next steps kinda easy, I guess.” Charlie looked at her inquisitively. “It’s simple. This person you don’t want to name is staying in the hotel, right? And you clearly don’t want to be around them or anyone else here while you’re like this. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t want to bring up all this drama, either, if I thought it was all just one big misunderstanding that could just as easily repeat itself with someone else. So the best thing you can do is just stay in your room for now. Until all of this,” she gestured to the whole of Charlie, unintentionally focusing on a specific area before she quickly let her hand drop back down, “passes, at least. Once it has, things can go back to normal and no one ever has to be the wiser. See? Simple.” 

The idea did sound appealing to Charlie. The longer she avoided Alastor until the affliction finally left her system, the better. And yet, even so… “No. No, I can’t,” she replied despite her reluctance to refuse. “I can’t just stay in my room the whole time this bullshit is going on. The hotel needs me. The guests need me. Everything is, or at least it was, going so well up until now and I can’t bear the thought of putting it in jeopardy. Not again. I've already abandoned it all once before when we thought Pentious had died and it was too much on you and was a total disaster and-.” 

“It won’t be like last time,” Vaggi interrupted, shaking her head back and forth and placing her hands on Charlie’s shoulders. The princess quickly began sucking in deep gasps of air, her rant going on so long she’d forgotten to breathe. “Last time was a disaster, but that doesn’t mean we have to repeat it. We’ll tackle it in a smarter way this time.” 

“Really?” Charlie asked, her hopes slowly rising. “How?” 

“For starters, you can still take care of planning,” Vaggi explained, looking more relaxed as she sounded more and more like a commander taking charge of the situation. “You’ll still schedule the guest events, activities, and handle all the other administrative tasks that don’t require any interaction with the guests. Meanwhile, the rest of us will pull our weight downstairs. Niffty will keep up with cleaning, as usual. Husk can help out with group therapy when he’s not running the bar. He does seem to be pretty good at it and most of the guests like his blunt attitude. We’ll just have to keep him from drinking on the job like he’s been doing lately. As for me, though, I’ll make sure things are running smoothly and help out where I can. Don’t worry, though,” she held up her hands dismissively before Charlie could even open her mouth, “I won’t stretch myself too far this time. We’ll all pitch in with everything instead of one person, meaning me, doing it all. And I’ll make sure to bring you daily updates plus all your meals so you don’t have to go down to the kitchen and risk interacting with your… person. How about it? Does that sound okay?” 

Charlie thought for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she contemplated if she should ask her next question or not. “And, um… What about… Alastor? What will he be doing?” 

“Ugh, I forgot about him,” Vaggi rolled her eyes while Charlie wished it could only be that easy for her. “Alastor will be… Well, he’ll be Alastor. I’m sure he’ll be doing something around the hotel, for as much as he’s even here. Maybe I can catch him in a good mood and he’ll be generous enough to watch the check in desk.” Charlie flinched and tried not to think too hard about that damned desk, thankful Vaggi was too distracted to notice. “Eh, he’d really only do it for an hour, if we’re lucky. I’ll just keep an eye on check in for now and we can all coordinate from there. Alastor will just keep being Alastor and act as host, I guess. At least it’s something.”

“Right,” Charlie drawled out, still sounding uncertain. “But what will we tell people, though? Won’t the others wonder where I am?” 

“I’ll just tell them you caught the demon royalty version of the flu or something,” Vaggi shrugged. It was a plausible explanation, at least. The others would be less inclined to bother Charlie if she had something that sounded contagious, she reasoned. “Oh, but wait,” she questioned, “what about your dad? He’ll come storming in if he hears you’re sick.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Charlie said dismissively, an air of angered sadness falling about her as she wrapped her arms around herself again. “I love my dad, but… he doesn’t really pay attention to anything outside of himself most of the time. Not unless you bring it directly to his attention, at least. And even then he can barely remember a conversation we had literally two minutes beforehand. Sometimes-,” she paused, trying to blink away the tears suddenly stinging her eyes, “Sometimes I wish he’d take me up on my offer to join in on therapy and we could figure out what’s wrong with him together… but he never does. He says he will and then he never shows up. I end up sitting there in the therapy room waiting for him and he never comes. And sometimes… sometimes I think he just doesn’t even want to get better.” 

Vaggi took Charlie’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Hey… Don’t worry about all of that, okay? We can focus on your dad later. For now, just focus on yourself and your needs. It’s okay to take a break every once and a while, you know? You can’t really help anyone if you don’t help yourself first.” She smiled that coy smile that always made Charlie smile back. “Do you remember who told me that?” 

“Pffft,” Charlie chortled, Vaggi’s smile working as her own fought for dominance at the corners of her mouth before it spread wide across her face. “I did.” 

“That’s right. You did,” Vaggi said, sliding over until she was beside Charlie and wrapping her arm around her shoulder. “Now, do me a favor and take your own advice. Let us handle the day to day for now while you rest and recover. The hotel won’t fall completely apart just because you take a week or two off. Maybe three, depending on the timeline.” 

Charlie leaned into Vaggi’s half embrace and laid her head on her shoulder, letting herself slowly relax again. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and let it out again, in for four and out for six, to ease her nerves. “Okay. I’ll do it…” 

“Hm, good,” Vaggi hummed with an affirmative nod.

“But just for a little while, okay? I’ll only go along with this just so long as you promise to give me regular updates. And don’t go crazy trying to get everything done by yourself. I don’t want you stressing yourself out for my sake.”

“Charlie, hun, don’t worry. We’ve got this,” Vaggi said in that authoritative way that left Charlie feeling like there was little room to argue. “Everything will get taken care of, one way or another, okay? So stop worrying and just relax for once.”

Another deep breath, in for four and out for six, and Charlie slowly nodded. “Okay... Okay. I’ll try.” Relaxing her body was one thing, but her mind was another story. Sometimes she felt like she was made more of anxiety than anything else, but having this conversation with Vaggi was enough to ease at least some of her worries.

It was good for both of them, really, leaving them feeling relieved and content with the final decision. 

The room fell into a pointed silence as they let themselves simply enjoy each other's company. No problem to solve. No mess to clean. No forced, awkward talking to fill the void. Just a demon princess and an angel together on a bed they no longer shared with each other, yet they weren’t afraid to occupy it then. A rare moment of peace in a world born of torment and chaos. A world where one of them was born and the other was cast down into, welcomed and tended to by the very being in her arms when she had nothing and no one else. They had missed these quiet moments, but it just wasn’t the same as before, and it couldn’t last forever. 

“Vaggi,” Charlie said softly, trying her hardest not to shatter the silence too harshly. Vaggi hummed in reply, like she was trying to preserve the silence, too. “Thank you. For all of this, I mean. You didn’t have to come here and check on me, but you did, and I really appreciate it. And you especially didn’t have to help me figure out my… situation… like you did. You could have just as easily left me to deal with everything by myself, but you didn’t. You’re really good at this stuff, you know? All the planning and delegating and stuff. And I’m not-.” She stopped herself, refusing to let herself ruin the moment with self deprecating behavior. “What I mean is, I don’t… I don’t know what I would do without you here. So… Thank you. For being here.” 

Vaggi was caught off guard for a split second before she quickly recovered and her smile widened. “You’re welcome, Charlie. And it’s no trouble at all. Really. Just because we didn’t work out as a couple doesn’t mean we can’t be good friends and check in with each other from time to time. And we do work together, after all. It’d be kinda awkward if we didn’t get along in some capacity, you know?”

Charlie tried to stop herself. She really did, but it just couldn’t be helped. The tears sprung back into her eyes as her emotions overcame her and she just couldn’t keep them at bay this time. She quickly became a crying, blubbering mess as she let out a howl of happiness. “Va-a-a-g-gi! You’re so-so ni-i-i-ice! I love you so-so-so muuuuch!” 

Vaggi nearly toppled over as Charlie practically threw herself the rest of the way into her arms and started sobbing into her chest, but she caught herself and laughed as she patted her back gently. “Oh, you really are in the thick of it. Your emotions are going absolutely haywire on you, huh?” Charlie started sobbing harder, her words inaudible as she all but lost the ability to speak comprehensively. “Okay, okay. That’s it, Charlie. Let it all out. There you go. It’s okay. Cry it all out and then I’ll go get you some tea, okay?” 

Charlie nodded into Vaggi’s chest. It was all she could do. She was otherwise useless, but the outburst of emotions felt strangely good and she was happy to have someone there to share them with. Someone who understood her and could give her what she needed. 

To a certain extent, at least. Only one person could truly help her and he’d never do anything of the sort in a million years, no matter what she offered in exchange or if she was even willing to offer anything to begin with. 

Deep down, despite Vaggi’s reassurances, she knew she was alone in this and she’d just have to wait for it to pass. It would only be two weeks at the most, after all, and then she could put the whole messy ordeal behind her forever. 

****

Alastor, all the while Charlie and Vaggi were talking, was trapped. He was stuck. Caught in place at the very moment she had left him. His body was still bent slightly forward, rigid and unbendable as a steel beam. His hand was still poised to shack, the memory of slender fingers and a trembling palm wrapped around it still ghosting against his flesh. His ears were pinned back against his head and lips drawn so taut that they peeled back to reveal his blackened gums. Despite that, his jaw was slightly slack, hung open in a way that almost made him look surprised. 

The only thing on his person he’d actually been able to move were his eyes. Even he could feel the way his pupils had contracted and dilated. A result of his confusion, perhaps? Whatever the reason, he couldn’t be quite sure, but he’d known exactly what they were fixated on. 

Charlie Morningstar. 

His eyes had followed her as she ran away. 

Away from answers to questions he hadn’t had a chance to ask. 

Away from his mostly frozen self. 

Away from him. 

Away she went and away his eyes followed. Tracking her every step. Every extended stride that took her further and further from his sight. Pursuing her retreat like a carnivore watches its prey gallivanting about the woods. Hunting her. 

Even when she disappeared from his sight around a corner and his eyes could no longer follow, she remained there. Remained fixated in his mind like the thought of a juicy slab of venison he’d be having later that night were he still a mortal man. Like a doe he had once shot, slaughtered, butchered, and turned into a taxidermied head mounted on his wall. Young, tender, and fresh. Forever his kill. Forever belonging to him in both memory and taste. Forever his hunt. 

‘Hunt her,’ a voice had whispered darkly in his mind. Commanded, really. Possessing his thoughts and demanding he listen. ’Do not let her escape. Find her. Take her. Make her yours.’ He had felt his body tense at the relentless beckoning, ready to charge and heed its call. ‘Imagine how good she will taste. Charlotte, daughter of the Morningstar, ripe for the plucking, like a ripe apple just waiting to be picked. All that power and tender flesh compounded in one lithe, perfect body.’ His mouth began to salivate, wetting it like water in a dry creek bed, and he could feel slivers of the saliva running down his chin so they dribbled down to the floor at his feet.  ‘When was the last time you even hunted? Aren’t you hungry? Aren’t you starved? You know what you have to do.’ He was hungry. He was starving. He was ready to hunt. He was ready to-. “EAT.” 

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t move. Not one single muscle. Not even a hair. And why was that, one may wonder? 

Because she would undoubtedly die if he did. 

Which was absolutely ridiculous. It was downright senseless, is what it was. 

Alastor had never been one to care about taking a life. It’d always come easy, like breathing or firing a gun. He’d overheard story after story of supposedly hardened criminals and killers talk, gripe, and complain that the first kill was always the hardest, that they’d made too many mistakes and almost gotten caught or outright lost their first few as a result. Not him. Never him. He’d always been flawless. Not a single one of his had ever gotten away. There was no remorse for it, either. No guilt. He was a hunter, through and through. The intended never really mattered, so long as the end result was the same. He remembered none of their names and little of their faces. They were merely tally marks on his soul, ingredients for his spells, or food for his belly. Never anything more. Never to be mattered. 

So what made Charlie Morningstar any different? Why was she the one he was letting get away? When did she become so special? She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. The only thing that separated her from the rest was the fact that most of his plans hinged on her being alive, but those could always be changed. Be rectified so they wouldn’t fail in her absence. It would be a bit of hassle, but worth it in the end. He’d always been curious about how she’d taste, after all, so there was no point in denying himself such a rare delicacy when he was primed and ready to chase. 

And who knew if the girl would even really die? It wasn’t as if his teeth and claws were made of angelic steel. The wounds and loss of flesh would no doubt put her out of commission for a day or two, maybe three at the most. And he could hide himself, ensure she didn’t see him coming, and make it look like a horrible accident or break in. She was the Princess of Hell. Surely there were still demons who wanted her dead despite everything she’d done for them. Demons he could pin it on. Hell, he could find a way to blame Vox in some way and everyone would have no reason to doubt it. It would take some finessing and a bit of work on his part, but it was doable. He could have her and no one would ever know but him. 

So why the fuck couldn’t he do it? Why couldn’t he move? Why was he still stuck in place and conflicted like two warring nations who couldn’t come to an agreement? It was easy. He could just do it. He wanted to do it. And yet he couldn’t. What in the ever loving fuck was wrong with him!?

The rest of the demons in the lobby must have begun to wonder that, too, because a small crowd had begun to form around him. Beady little eyes and jeering faces stared at him in confusion and speculation. Some of them had already been there when Charlie had run off, others were just arriving from a night out, and the rest were called down by text or phone to come see the spectacle. And what a spectacle it was. The great and mighty Radio Demon stood frozen in place, not moving a muscle or so much as blinking an eye. It wasn’t every day one saw an Overlord in such a state and rumors began to spread quickly amongst the small but growing crowd. 

Was it a spell? Had the old man finally glitched out? Was this some sort of floor show? A trick to get them close so he could attack? Were the lights on but nobody home? The reason didn’t really matter to any of them. All that mattered was that this was a once in an afterlife opportunity and they were going to take full advantage of it. 

Husk, meanwhile, had been busy that morning setting up at the bar nearby for the day. Ordinarily, he’d have been done by then, having usually pre-set everything the night before so he’d have less to do come time to open, but he hadn’t done that. He hadn’t done that for quite a while. Not since he’d fallen into old, bitter habits, anyway. Not since Angel Dust had walked out on the hotel. Again. And of his own shitty free will this time. Not since he’d taken to drinking his problems away all night and leaving himself stupidly hungover and useless in the mornings. His head was pounding and he’d much rather be anywhere else, but the bar was a job he couldn’t avoid and Fat Nuggets needed fed anyway, so he really didn’t have much choice in the matter. 

Which is exactly why the commotion in the middle of the lobby eventually caught his attention. 

He’d been too distracted to see what happened with Charlie beforehand. The loud voices, which were steadily getting louder and louder until the spacious room was in an uproar, was something even he couldn’t ignore, however. No matter how much he really, really wanted to. The headache beating against his skull simply wouldn’t let him, so he begrudgingly looked over to see what all the fuss was about. 

He couldn’t see what was happening due to the crowd, but he could tell they were crowded around something, and he’d never get any peace if he didn’t deal with it. 

“Christ on a fucking stick. Can’t a guy get any-,” Husk started to growl before giving up midway. He didn’t even have the energy to complain, it seemed. “Ugh, forget it.” He set the glass he’d been polishing down and looked at the corner behind the bar. As if sensing his stare, the small-cat-sized pig lifted his little head from the pet bed he was laying on and ‘oinked’ in question before starting to rise like he wanted to follow. Husk waved a hand in his direction dismissively and gestured for him to stay. “You wait here and get some rest, Fat Nuggets, while I deal with this bullshit. At least one of us should get some rest today.” Nuggets oinked once more before following orders and laying his head back down as Husk walked away. 

Husk was slow to approach the crowd, his pawed feet dragging on the carpet like they were made of cinder blocks. He reached it eventually, though, and started pushing his way through without a care to where they went once he shoved them aside. “Alright, alright. Break it up, would you? You people are being too fucking loud this early in the goddamn morning. Find some other place to be that isn’t here. Go on. Get the fuck out of here. Scram. Don’t make me get the hose because I will turn it on you sorry sad sacks of-.” 

He froze. He’d just made it to the middle of the uproar when he finally understood what was going on and it made his eyes widen as big as an owl’s. 

His jaw went slack for a mere second before he was shouting over the noise of the crowd and realizing that his suspicions were in fact correct. He really was surrounded by absolute idiots. “ARE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS TAKING SELFIES WITH THE FUCKING RADIO DEMON!?” 

He definitely didn’t have a headache anymore.

A smaller secondary group of four demons had formed around Alastor, all of them holding out their phones at different angles so they could fit themselves and him in their shot. One stopped what they were doing when they heard Husk shouting at them and slunk away, perhaps out of fear of repercussion, letting himself get lost in the bigger crowd. The two women rolled their eyes and started typing something furiously into their phone. The last turned to look at him like the entire situation was obvious. 

“Um, yeah we’re taking selfies with The Radio Demon,” the fourth said mockingly. 

Husk blinked and shook his head wildly, not believing what he’d just heard. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MINDS!? DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW!? GET YOUR SHITHEAD ASSES OUT OF HERE BEFORE I DO IT FOR YOU!” He turned toward the larger part of the crowd, swinging his arms at them and hurrying them along before any sort of bloodbath began. 

A chorus of complaints and jeering started as they all started to disperse, one person near him saying, “Come on, man. I didn’t even get my turn and I was next in line.” 

“I don’t give a fucking shit,” Husk replied right in his face. “Get the fuck out of here and go- I don’t even give a shit! Just go!” 

Husk continued ushering everyone out, circling the room a few times like a bird around its nest, but they were all reluctant to go and moving painfully slow. 

“Pffft. I ain’t going nowhere, old man,” the fourth from the smaller crowd laughed angrily. 

Husk turned his head to look at him just as angrily and marched his way over, the fourth flinching slightly but standing his ground as the front of his shirt was grabbed and Husk got right in his face. “Yes, you motherfucking are. This is The motherfucking Radio Demon, you moronic fool! You wanna get yourself and everyone else in here killed!?” 

“Get the fuck off me, dickhead!” the fourth demanded as he used a bit more effort than he thought it’d take to pry Husk’s fairly large hand off and toss it away. “I don’t even know what you’re getting all pissed off for, anyway! Plenty of us have been doing this for like five minutes now and we’ve all been perfectly fine! So just lay off, let us have our fun, and blow it out your ass!” 

“You want me to knock some sense into you myself, kid?” Husk asked, getting in his face again. “‘Cause I’ll do it! At least then it’ll save you the trouble of ending up in his fucking stomach and waiting to crawl your dumbass self out of his literal ass! Now get a move on! I ain’t gonna tell you again!” 

“And I’m telling you-,” the fool replied, raising his phone at the same time he raised his other hand toward Alastor. 

Husk's eyes followed his movement and panic flooded his expression as they widened to the size of dinner plates. “Oh, don’t you fucking dare!” 

“Hey, maybe you really shouldn’t-,” one of the eyerolling women said carefully at the sight of Husk’s panic, reaching her own hand out slowly to stop him. She’d been in Hell long enough to remember who he was and how much it took to shake him up and this did not feel like the right time to fuck around and find out. 

“We. Ain’t. Leaving!” 

Husk tried to stop him, he really did, but he wasn’t quick enough. The stupid fool placed his hand on Alastor’s shoulder to get the perfect selfie and it was too late. 

Nothing really happened. Not at first, anyway, and everyone but Husk and the fool thought it was safe to take a collective breath. 

It started with a small disturbance in the air. A tiny trickle of fear that traveled down their spins. The feeling of being watched from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Eerie sounds started to whisper and laugh from the darkness, calling out the names of different souls and speaking in voices that hadn’t said a word in decades. Fight, flight, or freeze kicked in soon enough as the dread sunk in and some people tried to either back away or head straight out of the hotel, pushing each other aside to ensure they made it to freedom. None of them did, though. All the doors in the lobby slammed shut and wouldn’t budge open no matter how hard any of them tried. 

“Hey, it’s locked!” “What the fuck, it won’t budge!” “Let us the fuck out of here!” “Please just let us leave!” Everyone started talking over each other and no one knew what to do. All they knew was that it was a shit show and they all had front row seats. What were they going to do? Had they really messed up that badly? How were they going to-?

The sickening crack of a bone cut through all the other noise and the lobby fell deathly silent. They turned, half expecting to find the fool who’d caused all this mess to be lying in a heap of mangled limbs on the floor. He still stood where he’d been before, his hand still on Alastor’s shoulder, but the look of terror on his face didn’t bring them any comfort. He was already a blubbering mess as Alastor’s raised arm, which had made the initial noise in the first place, started contorting and breaking itself at unnatural angles. It was horrible and disgusting, but thankfully it didn’t last for long. It suddenly snapped back into place with one final crack, remained still again for a few seconds, and then Alastor’s claws slammed onto the fool’s hand and straight into his flesh. Alastor punctured himself in the process, but he accomplished his goal. 

The fool didn’t hesitate to start howling and screaming. He tried his damnedest to pull his hand away as he flailed wildly, tearing and cutting into it further in the process, but Alastor held fast and he just couldn’t do it. He could only watch helplessly as Alastor’s claws dug deeper and wrapped around his hand only to yank him around and slam him into the ground. The fool was finally free, but to no relief. His hand was still badly injured and it would take at least a day to heal, yet all he could do was tremble and stare up at Alastor’s darkened eyes. Only the terrifyingly powerful Overlord’s now red irises visible in the otherwise completely pitch blackness staring back at the fool with no mercy to be found.

Alastor said something then, perhaps to the fool or someone else, but no one could hear it as the pitch and volume were too low, even to the best of hearing. 

Souls dared to look away and gaze in confusion at each other. Some of them even found the courage to talk. In a careful whisper, at least, but the room was so quiet that they might as well have been yelling at each other. “What did he say?” “I can’t hear him.” “Tell him to speak louder.” “YOU tell him to speak louder. I’m not getting my head ripped off today.” “I just wanna go back to my room.” “Hey, don’t put your dick there while we’re in public, dude.” “Did anyone hear what he-?” 

“I SAID ALL OF YOU GET OUT!” Alastor roared, turning in a half circle to sweep his arm around the room. As he did, an electric barrage of green energy burst from his body and instantly hit everyone standing in the room. 

All except Husk, at least; the most that hit him was a strong gust of wind that pushed him back a foot or two as he blocked his face against the attack. The others were not so lucky. They were instantly struck by the lightning and knocked to the ground. Not only that, but the energy attacked the phones laying on the floor, in their hands, and even in their pockets, leaving one to wonder if they hadn’t been the real targets of his outburst. The handheld devices were almost instantly fried and beyond repair, their delicate hardware, camera rolls, social media accounts, and text messages all completely scrubbed of any trace of Alastor or the state he’d been in. None of them had any time to recover, realize their phones were toast, or get to their feet before all the doors slammed open just as abruptly as they’d shut. 

“Everyone. Leave. NOW.” Alastor’s voice was a deep and crackling growl, a promise of what was to come if they didn’t obey his command this time, making it clear he would not repeat himself again. 

Luckily, though, not a single person needed to be told twice. They all scurried like rats and cleared the room just as fast. All except Husk, who knew better than to leave until he was specifically told to, and the fool, who found it hard to get up with only one properly working hand. The fool could only grunt in pain as he tried to hobble to his feet, but he didn’t get up very far before the pole of Alastor’s staff slammed down and stabbed him through his good hand. He cried out again as he fell back to the floor, hissing through the pain. As it subsided, he slowly looked up and behind him at the same time to find Alastor bent over him and leaning against the microphone portion of his staff. Alastor looked normal enough by then, or at least normal enough for someone like Alastor, but that didn’t mean the fool was safe. No one was safe when Alastor was around. 

“Not you,” The Radio Demon smiled, his voice cold. “You stay.” 

“N-no. No, please. I-I didn’t me-mean anything… I didn’t mean it… I’m sorry… Please-,” the fool started blubbering again while Alastor quietly began shushing him, but it offered no calming affect, nor was it meant to, as he went on. “Please. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

“Hey, hey, hey, now. There’s no need for that,” Alastor said calmly, holding his free hand up and moving it in a repeated halting gesture. “I know it’s not your fault.” 

“You… You do?” the fool asked uncertainly. 

Alastor laughed once, a genuinely joyful noise, and crossed his arms over his staff as he continued to lean into it. “Of course I do! You saw everyone else doing something, something they all knew they shouldn’t be doing, and you thought to yourself, ‘Hey, that looks like fun! I want to do it, too!’” His jaw temporarily stopped moving as the fool’s voice came from behind his closed, glowing teeth. The fool was more than a little disturbed, to say the least. “And it was fun, wasn’t it?” The fool stared up at him, not sure what to say, and Alastor’s eyes narrowed as he slowly began to twist his staff, which was still buried deep in the fool's hand, who then started to hiss and forgot how to breathe. “Wasn’t. It?”

“Ow. OW! YES! OW! Yes, yes! YES, it was fun!” the fool said. “Stop, stop! Please! Stop!” 

Alastor kept twisting a few seconds longer, reviling in the fool’s pain, before he finally listened. “Right, you had fun. Everyone here had fun today. Well, everyone except me, of course. Because the joke everyone was telling was at my expense, wasn’t it?” He looked at the fool pointedly, but the fool had already learned his lesson and was nodding furiously. “And normally, you know, that sort of thing would really piss me off. I mean, no one likes to be the butt of the joke, right?” The fool continued to nod. “Right. Even so, I’m really not all that mad.” 

“Your… You’re not?” 

“No, of course not,” Alastor drawled, his voice dripping with false sympathy, but the fool didn’t seem to notice as he let his expression turn the least bit hopeful. “I’m as reasonable as the next demon down here in Hell. I get it, really I do. You saw your chance and you seized it. It’s nothing less than I would have done. I mean, really, when were you ever going to get the chance to take a picture with an Overlord again? Least of all the notorious and all powerful Radio Demon, right?” 

“You weren’t that all powerful when Adam kicked your ass,” Husk grumbled under his breath. 

“What did you say?” Alastor turned his head sharply, fixing him with a look.

Husk flinched, looking away quickly. “Nothing, Boss.” 

“Good. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. This little debacle,” Alastor said as he turned back to the fool. “So, no, I’m not mad at all. In fact, under different circumstances, I might have actually let you go.” 

Any trace of the hope the fool had been holding on to instantly fell away. “You… might… have?” 

“Yes,” Alastor drawled again, the mocking tone not lost on the fool this time. “I’m afraid I just can’t do that, though. Again, none of this is really your fault but, unfortunately for you, I’m in a bit of a mood and I need someone to take it out on. And that someone is, unfortunately again, you.” 

“No… no, no, no… No, please!” the fool pleaded, his eyes searching Alastor’s for any sign of mercy where there was simply none to be found. “I swear! I swear I won’t do anything like this again! I’ll leave the hotel! I promise! I’ll never come back! You’ll never see me again! Please! Please! Please!” 

“Ssssshhhhhhh,” Alastor hushed, holding a clawed finger to his lips. The fool’s pleas slowly died out, realizing the futility of it all, and he trembled there, pinned to the floor like a rat in a mousetrap with a cat leering down at it from above. “Don’t worry. I do intend to make it quick, if that’s any consolation. I’m just so hungry right now and I can’t bring myself to eat you slowly like I normally would.” 

The fool whimpered, a sad and pathetic little sound, and Husk couldn’t stop himself from taking half a step forward. “Boss, I really don’t think Charlie would be okay with-.” 

“Charlie isn’t here now,” Alastor said quickly, his head turning as sharply as before. “And you would do well to remember who’s really in charge here.” 

Husk flinched again and retreated, losing the step he’d just taken. He didn’t know why he’d even tried. Alastor hardly ever listened to him on a good day, and this was decidedly not a good one. Plus, it wasn’t like this other demon meant anything to him, anyway. The fool was still fairly new to the hotel and Hell itself, which likely accounted for his lack of situational awareness, but that didn’t mean Husk owed him anything. Nor did it mean he needed to put his own neck out on the line to help him.

As if sensing Husk’s thoughts, the fool turned to look at him, tears streaming down his face as his eyes implored him to do something more. The former Overlord had no sympathy or help left to offer anymore, though. “Sorry, kid. I did try to warn you, you know.” 

“Oh, don’t be too hard on the poor boy,” Alastor mocked again. “It’s really not his fault.” 

The fool slowly turned back, unable to help himself, and Alastor was already leaning down toward him. The Overlord’s smile was sadistic and impossibly wide with a deranged thirst for bloodshed in his eyes. The last thing the fool would see for a while before he was systematically chewed, swallowed, and digested. The Radio Demon had four final words to give him, though, before he lunged and dug into his flesh with bared teeth. 

“I’m just so hungry.”