Early morning at the Happy Hotel, bright and cheerful. At least as bright and cheerful as a morning in Hell could be. Charlie was overseeing breakfast preparation as she happily hummed to herself.
"I don't know if it's a good idea for Cherri Bomb to be living here," Vaggie commented from where she stood by the wall. "I like her better than Angel, but she tends to prefer behaviors that we are trying to discourage."
"She's rough around the edges," Charlie agreed. "But she's good, I can tell. Plus Angel is close with her and they obviously mean something to each other. I believe having her here could be beneficial in helping Angel reach his potential at redemption. She also understands him better than we do. Having someone he is familiar with might help us as well,"
A knock at the door drew Charlie's attention. Vaggie looked up suspiciously at the silhouette of the tall figure with a rectangular head. There was only one known demon with a figure like that.
"Should we answer?" Charlie asked.
"What do you think?" Vaggie responded.
"He couldn't be worse than Alastor," Charlie shrugged, though she had a dark feeling that she was inviting danger. Still, she had to hear him out. Opening the door she was greeted by none other than Vox, the CEO of the TV station, and various media forms and companies around Pentagram City. The TV-faced demon smiled down at her. While his smile was meant to come across as friendly, it looked more maliciously pained than pleasant.
"Hello my dear," The TV Demon stated, "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Uh Sure," Charlie said as she stepped aside to permit him entry. She would only hear what he had to say, she didn't need to accept it.
"I was rewatching that delightful little jingle you delivered at the TV station the other week," Vox's synthesized voice said. "And I was wondering if I can offer some suggestions."
"Hey...whoa," Husk said as he nearly dropped his bottle of cheap booze. "You're not wanted here!
"Ah yes, Alastor's associates." Vox sneered at the sight of Husk and Niffty. "I see you have an association with the Radio Demon."
"Yes," Charlie replied. "He said he wanted to help."
"My dear," Vox replied with a laugh, "What I have to offer you is better than anything that antiquated, static spewing, charlatan could ever hope to give you. As you are aware, I do run a number of media companies and I can see your hotel and its message becoming a "reality show". Demons would tune in every week to see the competitors struggle to reach the ultimate goal of redemption and laugh as each one of them fails time and time again. And viewers would be able to access my many multimedia forums to gush and converse about who is going to win and vote out whoever is unworthy."
Angel rolled over and looked blearily out the window a the bright red sky of hell. The clock on the bedside table told him it was after ten so it was well into the morning. He didn't have work to go to so he didn't need to dress up in his custom Valentino Jacket and black skirt.
Slipping out of his night clothes he pulled out a bright pink cold-shoulder top with ¾ length sleeves and a black pair of skin-tight jeans over which he pulled his kinky black thigh-high boots finishing the ensemble off with a pair of rose-colored lace wrist length gloves. This was a bit more conservative than what he usually wore, but hey it wasn't every day he got a day off let alone two of them, he might as well enjoy it while they lasted.
Exiting his room he started down the hall but paused as he heard a familiar voice speaking to Charlie. A voice that only spoke of trouble. Speed Walking towards the staircase he froze with fear as none other than Vox was standing in the foyer.
"...And viewers would be able to access my many multimedia forums to gush and converse about who is going to win and vote out whoever is unworthy." Vox was grandly proposing to Charlie. The blond-girl for her part was listening to Vox, but she wasn't as open to his offerings as she was to Alastor.
"I'm sorry," Charlie said diplomatically. "But you don't seem to understand the cause of this hotel. I created this place with the intention of it being an alternative to the cleansings we have every year. Because while there are souls in this world who are beyond redemption and have no intention to change. Still, there are souls out there who really are good people and don't deserve to be in hell, unfortunately, they made choices in life that have resulted in them being reborn here. This hotel is meant to be a safe place for them to heal and free themselves from the sins binding them to this world so they can be free to enter Heaven."
"So romantic," Vox commented. "And yet so very foolishly naive. If these "good souls" as you call them are really so *good*. Why didn't they fear the possibility of where they would end up when their lives ended? Every soul in Hell knows that the end of the line is when you pass on. By accepting my help, I can turn this place into a gold mine. Enough to fill the Magne family vault for centuries to come, and you would get so many more patrons in this place. Certainly, ones that are better clientele than a certain spider that has taken residence here. Speaking of...do you have anything to add to the conversation...Angel?"
Vox turned his screen-like head towards the landing as though his antenna had picked up Angel's presence.
Charlie also caught sight of Angel standing on the guest floor landing. She hadn't even seen him enter the hotel foyer. Immediately she could tell something was wrong. Angel wasn't wearing his usual mask of egotistical cynicism. Instead, he looked scared...no frightened.
Flippant and cynical were usual behaviors for Angel Dust, as well as egotistical and rude. But she knew personally that this was all a mask he wore to hide the softer side of himself. She knew this because there had been moments when she had first met him where he hadn't removed the mask. But he had lifted it as though sensing if she was someone who could be trusted with the real him, yet wasn't ready to place his full faith in her just yet. But this...this was like the mask had unknowingly slipped away and Vox's presence was exposing some of the raw and infected emotion that existed underneath it. Her eyes briefly turned towards Vaggie in concern to see if she was also witnessing this as well. Vaggie met hers with the same concern that there was something very wrong going on.
"What...nothing to say?" Vox mockingly asked. "That's strange considering how opinionated you usually are when I've seen you with your employer."
"I don't believe I will require anything you are offering," Charlie stated, returning Vox's attention to her. She didn't know what was going on, but she didn't like what she saw and things were going to get worse if they continued. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today."
"I'm giving you the opportunity of a lifetime," Vox's televised voice said in confusion. "I can help you make this place into a success."
"I have all the assistance I need, at this time," Charlie said insistently as she walked towards the door and opened it. Vox sneered in annoyance seeing as Charlie was not going to accept his offer.
"As you wish my dear," the TV demon said as he left. "If you do change your mind, don't hesitate to let me know. Oh...and just a fair warning I would be mindful of your current *guest* if I were you...he can be...shall we call it treacherous." Closing the door behind the T.V. demon Charlie let out a sigh of relief before her eyes turned to the second-floor landing. Angel wasn't anywhere in sight meaning he must have left at some point when she had drawn away Vox's attention though she had a good idea of where he may have gone.
"What was...what was that about?" Vaggie asked as Charlie stepped away from the door.
"I...I don't know." Charlie said. "It seems Vox is familiar with both Alastor and Angel."
"Oh Vox and Alastor do not get along," Husk responded. "Alastor isn't afraid of Vox, but he doesn't like him. If they actually saw each other you'd be having to rebuild this entire hotel."
"Well, we will have to make sure Vox doesn't have the opportunity to see Alastor." Charlie said. "This hotel has had enough fiascos in the last week without it becoming a war zone."
"What did Vox mean about Angel's employer?" Vaggie asked.
"If it's who I think it is..." Huck said. "You better be prepared for a lot of trouble. Vox has some buddies that aren't exactly known for being reasonable. If you cross 'em they are going to give you a lot of grief."
"I'm going to figure out who Angel may be associated with," Vaggie stated. "If we knew we would be able to figure out what should be done."
"Ah," A familiar staticy voice stated as Alastor entered the foyer. "I thought I smelled bacon. Please don't have my portion cooked crispy, I do like to have my meat on the rare side."
"I have asked Razzle and Dazzle to keep a few slices undercooked for you," Charlie said.
"Merci beaucoup, my charming dear," Alastor said approvingly, "As I was leaving my executive suite, I couldn't help but notice Vox vacating the premises and he appeared to be rather perturbed."
"He came by looking to outdo you," Husk said. "But…"
"But he caught sight of Angel," Charlie said.
"Interesting…" Alastor commented, his smile seeming to widen in amusement. "Ha, dare I ask what sort of business would that pompous piece of shit wanted with our only guest. Aside from the obvious illicit moments of promiscuity that Angel frequently partakes in."
"I don't know," Charlie sighed as she climbed the stairs to the second-floor landing. "It looked more like he was deliberately here to find Angel, but was using outdoing you as his excuse. Anyway...I need to go see if Angel's alright, I don't know what is going on. But for some reason...Vox being here seemed to frighten him."
"I see," Alastor said as Charlie started down down the second-floor hallway. "Ha, I wish I had come down in time to witness our arachnious companion quaking in those obnoxious boots he enjoys flaunting himself in."
"I'm going to look up who is in charge of the porn studio." Vaggie groused.
"Ha, don't bother yourself with a silly form of worthless technology," Alastor answered. "The person who runs that parlor of ill repute that Angel actively invests his time is known as...Valentino."
Angel didn't look up from where he sat on the bed holding Fat Nuggets in his arms. While he usually turned to cigarettes to help with anxiety he had noted he had a habit of smoking like a chimney when he was really stressed. Val's cigarettes weren't exactly cheap, which made them yet another thing that damn moth liked to fuck him over with.
~Damn, why did Vox have to be here?~ Angel thought as he looked out the window of his room. Outside was pentagram city, glowing like a jewel in the distance was the uptown side with its clubs, its bars, and drug dens. Then the pristine squat round column of the porn studio...his profession and his prison. He wanted to escape, longed to run for it, and never return. But the last time he had...he had wound up chained down to a metal table as some backwater demon dentist chiseled a single tooth out of his mouth without using novocaine, dipped it into molten gold before inserting it back into the empty socket where it painfully seared against the raw flesh.
He wasn't a total prisoner there, since he did have a place he could go that wasn't the studio. Though if Val had his way, he wanted him to take up permanent residence. There were rooms there for the whores to use as the place did serve as a brothel. Angel himself was offered there as private entertainment for more exclusive guests. One of which he didn't think Charlie should know about, because it would only hurt her if she knew about that particular client.
There were so many others there like himself who wanted freedom, who felt trapped under Valentino's control. Many had given up on it long ago, they would tell him that it would all be easier if he didn't fight. Before he had met Cherri he had been at the point where he had given up resistance. What was the point in fighting it? After all, no one cared about you, no one was going to come to save you. People only cared about what you could be to them, what sort of asset you provided. You were seen as nothing more than a toy they can use to their heart's content and then toss-out when they were tired of you. Once you are already broken, there is nothing to be gained by shattering yourself more?
Cherri was the first person in this God-forsaken world he really felt he could call a friend. Even then that was something that didn't happen overnight. And as close as he was to her, he still kept his guard up to be on the safe side. After all their partnership was based on mutual use for one another. Eventually, a day would come where Cherri and her partnership with him would end. He didn't know if it would be through death or betrayal, all he knew is that when he did part ways with her, it would be in blood. Still, she was the first person to really notice how trapped he felt. And she was the first person to ask why he allowed such things to happen to him. Questions he had never asked himself because he never thought to ask. Why did he allow this to happen to him? Did he really feel he deserved it, or that he didn't have a choice? Or was there a part of him that felt this was not what he wanted, part of him that actually felt that he could be more than he was? After all, when something has already been broken, what are you going to do...continue to break it. If something is broken, you either throw it away as damaged goods. Or you fix it, make it a part of something else...something better. It was just a matter of figuring out where those broken pieces fit.
There was a cautious knock at the door of his room.
"Angel…" He heard Charlie say his name. "Do you mind if I come in?" He didn't respond to her question. He knew she had seen him when Vox had been there earlier. Yes, he could say he minded, that he needed to be alone right now, that he wasn't in the mood to listen to her concerns or requests that he just talk about whatever is bothering him. Before it occurred to him to object, the door opened and he heard her enter the room. His back was to her so he couldn't see her face, but he imagined what she wanted to ask. Questions like "Are you okay? Is something happening? You know you are free to talk to me if anything is bothering you" speels. All of it would just lead to cans of worms he wasn't ready to open nor did he want to. Plus doing so would be admitting that just being here he was a danger to this hotel and everyone in it.
Fortunately, there wasn't much for Val to attack as attacking Charlie did have the risk of bringing Lucifer's wrath down on him. And Alastor, while he did things for his own reasons. He wouldn't just allow someone to walk into the hotel and terrorize it. After all, he took out Sir Pentious's ship when the serpent demon arrived looking for him and just assumed he was under the Radio Demon's protection. That didn't mean that Alastor gave any actual care for whatever reasons the snake may have had to target him. But the moth overlord could still show up and forcibly take him back at gunpoint and there wouldn't be all that much any of the others could do to stop it from happening.
Charlie surprisingly said nothing as she stood regarding him. Instead, she crawled across his bed and maneuvered herself so she was seated beside him. She didn't look at him or say anything...was she waiting for him to say something or acknowledge her in some way.
For some reason, the companionable silence between them was making him feel more at ease than had been moments before. He started slightly as Charlie lightly placed a hand on his arm before leaning her head against his shoulder. Again she said nothing to him, just letting the silence between them speak for itself. But the sisterly gesture said as clear as any shout 'I'm here for you if you need me'. Hesitantly he wrapped one of his lower arms around her waist allowing her to have that sibling-like embrace. A soft smile crossed Charlie's face feeling like she had made some sort of breakthrough with him. This was not the act that he showed all of Hell, this was real...this was who Angel Dust truly was. She remained that way with him until she felt his anxiety had been soothed away. Standing up she turned to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Come downstairs and join us..." She said with a warm friendly smile before she left the room. "When you are ready."
Big thank you to everyone who has been reading and enjoying this fic. Please like and follow if you want to be informed of when I post the next chapter. I do respond to Comments and Private Messages, so please don't be shy about leaving me feedback.