Charlie's response was immediate. She couldn't wait any longer. She had to find Vaggie and apologize. Now. Yesterday, really, but that wasn't an option anymore.
"Yes, anything! Please, just help me find her. What do you want?" she cried, feeling something between overjoyed, relieved, and anguished.
Oh, she made it so easy for him. But no. Not yet.
"Now's not the time for that, my dear." His voice was low and mocking, resembling a hiss more than spoken vernacular. "Or is your missing friend not more pressing?"
His eyes narrowed, scanning her face for any microexpressions that would give away her thoughts. While he normally prided himself as a man of excellent people-reading skills and she an open book, her tear-muddled face made it more difficult to read than usual.
Her face scrunched slightly. She looked like she was about to correct him on something he'd said.
'Girlfriend,' Charlie rectified silently. But was she still? What were they, now that Charlie had hurt her? And was it true - that Vaggie, her dearest friend and closest confidant in all her thousand years of life, hadn't believed in her? Had she… been just like the rest of them?
She wailed. This wasn't helping. She needed to find her!
"No, no please find her, Al," she begged between sobs.
In a single, graceful motion, Alastor rose from behind his desk. He took long strides towards the center of the room. When he had passed Charlie and his face was hidden from her, he grimaced slightly.
Finding that wench was the last thing he wanted to do. He would not let them make up and go back to their happy, quaint little lives. No.
My dear, naive Charlotte. This past love of yours is over. There is no undoing what is done. And if you two sick lovebirds dare think otherwise…
I'll rip to shreds all that you hold dear, until I am all that binds you to this realm.
He tugged up his striped sleeve a few inches until his bare forearm peeked out. Then, with the same claw that had so carefully lifted his clothes, he cut into the skin.
A stream of blood spilled from his wrist and onto the dark ebony flooring. It splattered silently.
"Alastor? What are you doing?!" Charlie gasped, looking at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Hush, my darling. I'm merely doing what you asked of me."
Alastor continued his precision work without giving her a single glance. First, he marked the border. A perfect, crimson circle surfaced against the dark floorboards. Then, he filled it in. Sharp, angular lines appeared within the circle. When he had finished, he stepped back and licked his wound, taking back the remaining blood that threatened to spill and further taint the floor.
A satanic five-pointed star laid before him. He drew a few complicated symbols before stepping within its borders and sitting cross-legged.
"Now, just give me a moment, Charlie. I'll find your friend for you in no time."
Charlie stared at him, wide-eyed. She watched as his shadow tore from him and slipped beneath the door. His eyes suddenly opened, but it was not his normal red-backed black pupils that greeted her. The sclerae were midnight pools of black. Red static lines danced erratically within them.
Charlie was beyond confused and perhaps a bit perturbed.
"Uh, Al?-"
He shushed her. "Sh. I'm viewing the world through the eyes of my shadow. I need to concentrate in order to do this, so a little silence please, my dear."
Charlie watched him as the minutes ticked by.
She waved her hand out in front of him, wondering if he could still see her. But there was no response.
A slight smile crept up between her tear-stained cheeks. Her heart felt raw and beaten from all the emotions coursing through her. But she had just gotten a marvelous idea…
With soft, careful steps, she tiptoed closer to him. Her eyes were alert for any signs of stirring, but none came.
She crept closer.
She stood inches before him. This close, she could see the individual strands of red-and-black hair that joined to become his hair and ears.
She reached out, inching her hand closer and closer to his left ear. She just had to… Just once… She needed to know what those alluring, forbidden ears felt like.
Her finger poked the top of the tuft. It slightly twitched.
She waited a moment for any other response. When none came, she slowly slid her finger down its length, drinking in every touch. It was so soft. So fluffy. So unlike Alastor and yet an undeniable part of him.
Her hand reached its base. She shifted her eyes from his bewitching ear to look him in the eyes again. Still erratic and beset with static.
Her heart jumped with adolescent glee and her smile grew wider. Fantastic… Fascinating…
She took the ear between her thumb and finger and began to caress it.
Alastor was quickly scanning the streets and buildings of Pentagram City for Vaggie's unique, deplorable energy when he felt a jarring but pleasant sensation in his left ear.
Puppeteering his shadow, he commanded it to touch the wispy black ear but found nothing.
A blissful shiver crawled down his spine as he felt the sensation descend the entire length of his ear. Losing concentration, he temporarily cut contact with his shadow and regained presence in his office.
He sensed the captivating heiress hovering just over him. Alastor stilled, maintaining perfect posture as he feigned continued absence.
He felt the pleasant sensation on his ear again, and it clicked. His sweet, undaunted Charlie was stroking his deerlike ear while she thought him unawares! It took an exceeding amount of control to not let his shock or savvy show.
He stayed there a moment, enjoying the sensation. He'd never tell her about this or about how she made him feel in this moment. This moment would be kept secret from each of them.
He didn't want it to stop, not yet, but he couldn't have her thinking him incompetent. He had already taken longer than he should to find the loathsome chihuahua.
His voice was almost foreign to him. Devoid of radio clutter and softly sighing, he broke the moment between them. "Charlotte, my sweet, sweet sinstress, if you keep doing that then I won't be able to find your friend."
Horror struck her face at being caught. She scampered five feet out of his reach.
She tried to save face. "Do- Doing what?" Her face was flustered and she knew there was no way she'd get out of this, but she had to try anyway.
Alastor merely chuckled, a soft, uncharacteristically-benign sound on his lips, before returning back to his shadow.
More minutes passed, but Charlie dared not move from her spot now. She screamed internally. He knows. She clutched her poor, pummeled heart. It had taken way too much battering today.
Finally, his voice broke the silence. "Found her."
A switch inside her clicked. She wasted no time, quickly jotting down the address and calling her two servants. She bellowed a quick thanks as she raced out the office and to the front of the hotel. She hadn't a moment to lose.
She knocked on the foreign door that belonged to the written address.
"Vaggie? Are you in there?" she shouted.
Still banging on the door, she heard footsteps and hushed voices inside. But they were diminishing and becoming faint.
"Vaggie?" she repeated.
When no one answered, she barged in, breaking the door off its hinges.
"Vaggie!?" Her eyes flared red as they scanned the place for her closest friend, sister, lover, whatever Vaggie was to her. She didn't know how to label her, but she was undoubtedly the most important person to Charlie in all of Hell.
Charlie tore the dinky place apart, easily tossing aside and breaking furniture as though it weighed nothing.
"¡La Diabla!" an older, womanly voice cried out.
Charlie twisted her head to the voice and found its source on the stairs. A large, tawny creature covered in bristling hair met her gaze. She looked like a cross between a bear and a wolf.
"Where's Vaggie?" she demanded the woman. Her voice was demonic and warped.
The woman marked a cross across her chest with quick-moving hands. What a bizarre gesture to make in Hell.
"Querido Dios," the woman begged, "¡Salvanos!"
A voice so familiar to her penetrated her ears. "Cut it, Charlie!" But the tone was wrong. It was venomous when it should have been warm.
"You're scaring her! Us! What do you want?! Come out of that dire form!" her ex-lover's harsh voice demanded from the top of the stairs.
Charlie stared at her, tears flooding her eyes. "Vaggie!" she wept.
They each stared at each other, unmoving. Charlie forced her demonic features to retreat within herself.
"Oh, Vaggie! It's you, it's really you! I was so worried!" Charlie dropped to her knees, still sobbing.
Seeing the danger fade, Vaggie shifted her gaze from Charlie to Mariana.
"Está bien. Retirarse arriba," she soothed, urging the older woman upstairs.
Mariana's dark hazelnut eyes were deep with worry for the younger moth-demon, but she said nothing and went upstairs.
Vaggie stared at Charlie, her arms tightly folded.
"What are you doing here? How'd you even find this place?" she asked, her voice biting and full of acid.
"I- I…" Charlie took a deep breath, forcing the sobs down. "I don't know what happened yesterday. My mind blanked out everything after all those new guests arrived. I was looking for you this afternoon and I… and Husk told me what awful things I did to you yesterday. Please, Vaggie! What happened? How can I make this right by you? I'm so sorry…"
"You- you don't remember?" the silver-haired demoness breathed out, bewildered and icy.
"No… Husk told me that I told you to get out. That I hurt you physically. Please, Vaggie, I just want to talk and make things right between us."
Vaggie's face shifted through a number of emotions. Anger. Hurt. Puzzlement. Sorrow. Hope. Anger again. Fatigue.
Finally, she caved. "Fine." She made her way down the stairs and recapped their last encounter.
Charlie was in turmoil. She tried to control her emotions, knowing that they were what had set her off and made her hurt Vaggie in the first place.
Deep breaths. Breathe in. Hold it. 5… 4… 3... 2… Breathe out. Don't lose control. Breathe in. It's okay. It will be alright.
"Vaggie." Her voice cracked. "I don't understand."
Vaggie was drumming her nails against her forearm, resentful and full of emotions she did not want to feel. "What isn't there to understand, Charlie?"
"You… you don't believe in me. I thought you were the only one who did, but turns out I'm all alone after all." She forced a calm, steady voice, but it still came out shaky.
"Charlie, I love… loved you and your dreams, and I really wanted to help you in whatever way I could. I listened to you, I came up with ideas, I worked alongside you, but it was because I loved you, not because I believed it was possible.
"I've had my dreams shattered time and time again, and coming down to Hell was the last straw. I want to believe… but I can't. Not until I see proof. I won't build myself up with false hope only to crash down to a pit lower than where I was before."
"Oh…" Charlie tried to process it: Vaggie having her dreams get crushed again and again until she was too wary to dream. She tried to empathize, to image herself in that state.
Her eyes bled red with pain.
"That's… horrible. I can't. I can't have that, Vaggie. I need to always be dreaming or else I…" Charlie didn't finish the thought.
The blonde blinked her eyes and the red faded, knowing it scared her companion. She hesitantly reached out as if to hug her, but didn't complete the motion. Instead, she sat with her hands outreached, asking the silver-haired woman for permission with her eyes.
Vaggie nodded. Charlie slowly wrapped her arms around her.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Vaggie. And I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way. I can… I can dream enough for the both of us, okay? So please, come back with me to the hotel. Will you forgive me?" Charlie asked, her voice soft and pleading.
Vaggie's hardened exterior crumbled. She returned the hug with tight, searching arms.
"Yes Charlie, my love. I forgive you. Let's go home."
"There's…" Charlie hesitated. Vaggie's response had made her feel whole again, and now she was about to tear her best friend apart. But she had to be honest, she couldn't fake it anymore and she needed the other woman to know her true feelings for her. "There's one more thing I want to tell you Vaggie, while we're being all open-hearted and honest with each other."
Charlie pursed her lips, dreading the next part. She had to tell Vaggie; she deserved to know the truth. Charlie couldn't love her back in the way Vaggie wanted. She deserved to be set free to find someone else.
Vaggie looked up at her, her eyes sparkling pools. She looked at Charlie like she was her whole world.
"I…" Charlie crumpled. She couldn't do it. Not with the way Vaggie was looking at her with so much fierce love and loyalty after everything she had done to her only yesterday. "I love you."
Vaggie giggled, a surprisingly soft sound from her typically gruff demeanor.
"I love you too, silly. C'mon, let's go home" The moth-demoness entwined their hands together and led the way.