Chapter 18: Battle Won, But Not the War
After a short nap, Alastor brought Vixen back to the hotel, carrying her. Alexander, Alador, and Clarie were in the lobby with Angel and Cherri, getting prepared for the fight next week, until they saw Alastor walk in, carrying Vixen. "Mom, Dad!" Alador yelled. The kids ran over, worried. "Are you ok?" Alexander asked. "Yes, my friend….i'm alright. Vixen's alright too…..we're a little injured, but nothing we can't handle." Angel Dust walked over. "The hell happened, then?" he asked. "Well….we evened the playing field. Vox is dead." they all gasped at what Alastor said. "You….killed Vox? Fuck, Smiles. That's hardcore as shit." Angel said. "Thank you, Angel…..if you'll excuse me, i need to get my wife into bed so she can rest. I will join you the best i can." He started walking to the elevator, but was stopped by Clarie. "What do you mean? The fight isn't until next week...right?" Alastor sighed. "No, my dear. They were not going to play fair. They hired mercenaries to attack you three. Clearly, Valentino was playing for keeps." Alexander was mad. "That son of a bitch! Well, if he's not gonna play fair, i say we try and attack him now! He won't be expecting it!" Alastor shook his head. "I would advise against it, please." Alexander wanted to argue, but he couldn't argue with a guy who just helped him. "Alright….we'll wait. But i'm just worried." Alastor nodded, and headed up the elevator. "So Val tried to hire some mercenaries to do his dirty work? I knew that guy was a coward." Angel said. "Yeah, that may be true, but if he's got hired help, the ones that Alastor sent running can't be his only group of people. There's bound to be more." Alador said. "Well, we'll be ready for them…..i hope." Clarie said. "Don't worry, Clarie. You and Alador will be staying down, away from the fight. I want you two kept safe. Me, Angel, Alastor, and Cherri will be able to handle them. Especially now that i have these." he opened his jacket that went over his shirt, and it revealed 6 hunting knives in their own individual sheathes, each one under an arm. "With these 3 pairs of knives i got, thanks by the way, Angel, i'll be able to handle things better. And with Angel's shooting, Cherri's explosives, and Alastor's power, we can handle however many mercenaries that pimpy fuck throws at us." suddenly, outside, the sounds of a bunch of feet were heard gathering outside. "The hell is that?" Alexander wondered, and when he opened the door, his eyes widened when he was greeted to the sight of the other 50 mercenaries in the crossroads in front of the hotel, Valentino leading the pack with a smirk on his face. "What fresh hell is this?" Alexander said, dumbstruck. "Your end. Kill him!" the mercenaries aimed a gun at Alexander, and he closed the door swiftly. "Get down!" everyone, including some guests that were in the hotel, ducked down behind furniture, the walls, the front desk, wherever they could hide from the onslaught of bullets. Alador pulled Clarie behind the front desk, and she curled into a ball, frightened by the sudden gunshots. Alador knelt over her, protecting her as the bullets kept flying. Eventually, the bullets stopped, the mercenaries running out of ammo. "Alright, enough gunplay, boys. Get in there and gut every last one of them." Valentino ordered, and the mercenaries all drew knives, axes, a few maces, any kind of weapon you could think off, and they walked into the hotel. "Come on out, little kiddies…..let's make this fun!" one of the mercenaries said. Alexander stood up from behind a chair, riddled with bullet holes. "Kid, are you fuckin' nuts?!" Angel said. "Are you trying anything to save our asses?" Alexander asked. Angel looked down, and sighed. "Fuck it." he stood up with Alexander. Cherri stood up too, as well as Clarie and Alador. Even some of the hotel guests stood up too. Valentino walked in front of the mercenaries, and he chuckled as he looked around. "You really think you can win? Seriously, what the fuck makes you think you can beat me and my little band of merry men here?" Alexander looked back at Clarie, and she nodded. He turned back to Val. "Because we're a family. We trust each other. We look out for each other. Everyone here is like blood to me. Hell, even Angel's like an Uncle to me, and i didn't even know what an Uncle was until it was a week before i died." Angel looked at Alexander, and smirked. "That girl back there is the girl i love with all my heart. Love may not be your top priority, or a priority at all, but that girl back there….." he looked back at Clarie. "I wouldn't trade her in for anyone else." Clarie blushed, looking away. "And even these patrons, the ones i don't know their names, i think of them as a member of this family when they check into the hotel. I play music for them, and sing with my girlfriend and her brother to entertain them. And what do i do after i play? Get a drink from my friend Husker at the bar. And we do this because we're all in this together. We're all in Hell together, might as well work together and live and love together." Alexander said. Valentino was unfazed, shaking his head. "Touching…..but irrelevant. Kill them." but the mercenaries didn't move. At least, not all of them. "The kid's right. I mean, murder is why most of us are down here…..are we really gonna do it again?" some of the mercenaries agree, and about 30 of the group left the hotel. "Hey, get back here, you fuckers!" Valentino yelled. "Well, no matter….i still have these….20 men. And they're still tough enough to kick your asses." Valentino said, sweating a little. He knew that he wasn't as strong as he thought without all his men, but he still had a chance. Alexander pulled out all his knives, Angel pulling out a baseball bat, along with Cherri. Clarie looked at Alador, and he nodded. "You ready to try it out?" Clarie nodded, and she used all of her demonic powers to summon a demonic shadow werewolf. It was as tall as her dad, and especially muscular and strong. Alador stayed next to her, pulling out a kitchen knife. "Let's play, Val." Alexander said smugly.
The fight had started. Alexander and Valentino each had a knife in their hands, their knives clashing and clanging against each other. Angel Dust was taking on a couple of demons at once, one of them using a chain, which wrapped Angel Dust up. "Ooooh, harder daddy~" he said, which threw the demon off, and he delivered a headbutt to the demon, knocking him out. "Perv." he said. Cherri was easily dodging some swings from a demon's knife, and she kicked him right in the dick. "Aaah, bitc-" Cherri shoved a grenade down his throat, and he kicked him away, exploding on the floor, blood going on the floor and walls. "Damn it, Cherri, i just cleaned that floor!" Nifty said, she, Charlie, and Vaggie were trying to keep other mercenaries from entering the hotel. Clarie kept using her energy to make the shadow werewolf attack the demons who tried to attack. One of the smaller demons tried to attack her himself, but Alador grabbed the small demon and gutted him, blood getting on the knife and his hand. Clarie was surprised at how brutal he was being, but given he literally took the claws of a pretty big demon to save her, she shrugged it off and smiled. Husker stood behind the bar, ignoring everything that was going on. He picked up his bottle of cheap booze and started drinking it, but suddenly, there was the sound of glass breaking, the liquor not going into his mouth anymore. He looked and gasped as a demon threw a knife and broke the bottle. "You fuck…...you broke my infinite bottle!" he said, and he jumped over the bar, and dog piled the demons who broke his bottle, slashing and scratching them. It was an all out war zone with Alexander and Valentino in the middle, still knife fighting. "So you actually have some skill, don't you kid?" Valentino said. Alexander ignored him, and he kept fighting. "Well, why don't i show you my true power?" Valentino kicked Alexander through the door of the stage room, and Alexander fell down the ramp, hitting the stairs on the side of the stage. "Ugh….." Alexander slowly got up, the fall knocking 4 of his knives away, only having two now. There were some guests lounging around in the stage room, having not heard the fighting through the soundproof doors. Valentino adjusted his glasses, a pink aura surrounding his body, and suddenly, the girls in the stage room all had hearts in their eyes. "Get him." Val said, and the girls started attacking Alexander. Alexander mostly kicked them back, but he still got some hits taken to his body. It took him a while, but he got them all back to normal. Alexander got pushed to the middle of the stage from the assault, and he was panting hard, looking around. "w-wait….Val?" in the midst of the fight, Val had disappeared. "Whe-" suddenly, a knife came through his chest. Valentino stabbed Alexander through the back. "Gotcha~" he pulled the knife out, and Alexander fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. Clarie looked through the door, and gasped. "No!" she yelled, the shadow werewolf disappearing. She ran through the door. "Alex!" she screamed. Valentino pulled out a revolver, and put the barrel of the gun directly against the side of Alexander's head. "Well….ain't this just the perfect example….of revenge?" and with that, he pulled the hammer back, and pulled the trigger, a gunshot going off, and a blood curdling scream from Clarie filled the room.