Double-Blind Effect
Chapter 12
Hell's Martyr
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." — Leo Buscaglia.
(Day 13 evening)
Immediately after they struck the deal, the room fell into silence, and only the click of the A.C ventilation discharging air into the hotel was notable. "This will only take but a few minutes, ma chérie." Alastor closed his eyes, concentrating on bringing forth the shadows under his control.
Specters slithered into the hotel's door cracks from the entrance to the rear door, and some went through window cracks throughout the building. Charlie silently watched the shadows slowly consume the room. If it weren't for a couple of illuminating lamps in the lobby, the room would be overtaken by darkness.
Dark shadowy forms peeled themselves off the walls, traveling closer to Alastor, awaiting. "Be my eyes and locate the effeminate fella's whereabouts." His grin was infectious.
The Radio Demon's servants melted into the walls and floor, gliding out the building and traverse far and wide, from the alleys to skyscrapers. The crimson sunlight elongated their forms, and his shadow was twice as big as the others. It snaked throughout the wreckage of abandoned buildings created by turf wars. Over time, the deserted red buildings gradually bleached by the crimson sunlight, and most of the windows were boarded up. Particles of dust hazed over the surrounding area caused by rubble haphazardly falling off the buildings. Alastor's shadow glided over debris and ventured to the center building, creeping up onto the walls until it heard the faintest of sounds, and tilted its head to stare at the commotion.
"This is fuckin funny. I can't believe it some wacky bitch posted flyers about you, and she's offering a reward!" A sitting lizard demon leaned back against a metal chair, pushing the front two legs off the ground, and placed his legs onto a flimsy table. "Yah hear that, Angel? Someone cares about yah."
Angel Dust slowly fluttered his heterochromia eyes open; his double vision fell to the corners of the opened, dusty, filled room. His ears unforgivingly ringing in his head and dried up blood covered the right portion of his face; the taste of metallic blood coated his mouth. A metal chain securely entangled most of his body. Other than that, he had better days. 'What did that fucker say again? Is sugar tits lookin for me? Posters and offering rewards ain't Cherri's style, so is it, Charlie?'
"Yah gone deaf already?"
The spider's blurred vision lingered over to Nathan, a lizard demon, one of the many uncountable goons Valentino had. A half-crocked smile mischievously played on his mouth. "There's no fuckin need to repeat yurself. I ignored yah the first time."
"The fuck ya say to me?" The front two legs of the metal chair slammed down, and Nathan irritably spun around, facing the porn star.
"I said, were you born this stupid, or did yah take lessons?"
"Yah got some fucking death wish?!" The lizard hastily stomped towards Angel, pulling out a small gun from his back pockets and pressed it against the spider's temple.
"Two words, breath mint." The porn star moved his head to the opposite side because the other sinner's breath nauseated him and sardonically rolled his eyes. "Come on, if yah really gonna shoot me, yah would have done it by now. Admit it, yur too scared to cross Val to do it." Not that he blamed him. Why did Valentino go through such extreme measures to kidnap him only to leave him for dead here? Is this his punishment for leaving the porn industry?
"Ya got a fuckin big mouth, and I'm bettin that mouth of yurs can do more than just talk." Nathan lustfully retorted, yanking Angel's face towards him.
The overlord's connection to his shadows permitted him to observe things miles away from his actual location. He analyzed the encompassing area and taking note that their bothersome patient was not alone. There were about a dozen sinners in the facility. "Found him." Opening his eyes, he stared down at the fretful heiress.
"Really?!" Charlie smiled at his timeliness; a sudden sense of relief washed over her.
"Ab-so-lute-ly, are you ready, my dear? I'll take you to his location." He extended out his claw in anticipation for hers, she placed her petite hand over his, and he reeled her in. Alastor comfortably latched his arm around her shoulder, his spellbound eyes glued to the princess. "Hang on tight." She obeyed, wrapping her arms around his collar.
They spatial warped out of the Hazbin Hotel in a split second, traversing throughout Pentagram City, and finally reached their destination. Just beyond the wreckage of the multiple forsaken buildings, their forms emerged from the ground. "Your patient is at center stage." Alastor pointed to the center building.
Charlie stepped out of his grasp, observing the unfamiliar surroundings. The wreckage occurred days after Exterminator Day when demons were fighting over new turfs, and whoever controlled this area has yet to restructure. The sight alone made her very concerned over Angel's wellbeing, and her gut turned into knots, screaming to her that something dreadful is happening. "Is he… alright?"
"He's breathing."
"Okay! We should get—"The heiress took a few steps forward before Alastor interrupted.
"Charlie, I think you forgot the terms of our agreement." Alastor reminded his plaything about their deal as she slowly turned to face the smiling dealer, bewildered. "Sweetheart, you only asked me to take you to him. You did not ask me to assist you any further." The static left his voice.
Silence.
The Radio Demon flashed a conspiratorial grin, strolling up to her. The odds were in his favor. She'd have to ask him to strike another deal; she'd be naïve not to. Oh, the endless possibilities, the potential futures all thriving within this next deal. "If you wish, I'd be happy to aid you with the price of an additional deal."
The crimson light from building silhouettes cast a shadow that obscured her face when he lifted her chin. Her black lips parted as if she deliberated on what to say, and he couldn't read her expression.
'This is something I need to do.' She couldn't afford to make another deal, and Angel was her responsibility. Charlie steps back as he extended out his dealer's claw, forecasting hers. Her hand tentatively reached for his and unpredictably pushed it aside. "Al, you've done more than enough, and for that, I'm grateful." She innocently smiled at the overlord and declined the offer. "Haha—don't worry, as I told you before, I'm one tough cookie!" She lightheartedly giggled and departed.
Alastor's infamous smile descended, pressing into a strained, miniature smile as he watched in taciturnity the heiress dashing off into a hostile zone. He didn't predict this outcome, and he didn't know what to plan next. As if numerous imaginary fork paths materialized before him, he stood hesitating, motionless unsure which trajectory to cross. His deadly claw unconsciously reached out for the barely visible blonde princess darting towards the horizon, wanting her to reconsider striking a deal. An unfamiliar wave of trepidation and exasperation drowned him. The overlord wanted to shout at her for being unwise and silly; instead, he jammed his hands into his pockets, waiting for her return.
'The windows are all boarded up, and so are the doors; I wonder what the back entrance looks like.' Charlie trod lightly over rumble and in moments veered to the back of the building, spotting a single shattered window one story above her. To converse energy, she didn't summon her wings. Climbing up a green dumpster, the princess grabbed the windowsill and hoisted herself up. She carefully inched past the broken window without slicing her skin and hopped down inside the building's hallway. Her doe eyes naturally scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. Dust particles filled the air and tickled her lungs; she suppressed the urge not to cough.
Giraffe of various gang symbols, names, and lewd images coated the dirty, bare walls. Numerous scorched and tattered pieces of furniture scattered throughout the small corridor and beyond into the next room. Along the floor, a thick cable wire ran through the hallway and transcended beyond. Various size boxes were stacked randomly in the hall and covered in a thick layer of dust. Quiet as a mouse, the princess tipped-toed to the end of the wall; fastening her body against it, she peeked out. Her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, astonished. Angel was dangling on a metal chain connected to a wooden pillar. A small portion of the ceiling exposed the outside elements, yet the structure remained security intact. A lizard demon lowered the spider's chains to crotch level and unfastened his pants…
The Hell Princess's emotions flared up; her lack of judgment hindered. Horns sported off the sides of her temple; her eyes flashed open the iris gold and sclera red. Her black nails grew sharper and punctured into the wall, dragging them downward furiously while an unacquainted heat roused her feet.
"Angel!" Charlie exclaimed as firey musical notes exploded from her heels, expelling her off the floor. She propelled towards them, rotating the lower half of her body; her foot made contact with the lizard's jaw.
"What the fu—!" The devastating kick cut Nathan's sentence short, sending the sinner flying backward across the room; his back impaled into the wall, which partially broke through, creating a body indent. The sinner's unconscious body broke off the wall, falling gauchely onto the cold floor. The flames scorched his upper body, burning off his shirt and seared into his leathered skin.
The heiress graciously landed, spinning around to face the spider. "Angel!" She brightly beamed.
"Behind you!" Angel hollered.
"Huh?"
Turning her head over the shoulder, a metal bat suddenly whacked the side of her temple, and she went down like a sack of flour. Her hearing temporarily deafened, and her vision was slowly going in and out. Her doe eyes gaze up to Angel's panicked look; he mouthed something she didn't quite get. 'What did he say? Crap… I didn't think to check… for others…'
"Charlie… Charlie!"
One hour later
"Charlie… open your eyes." Angel raspingly pleads.
Slowly, the heiress's moonbeam eyes fluttered open. Her mind first registered an excruciating headache, and her vision doubled for a moment before it gradually returned to normal. Licking her dry lips, she tasted a mixture of dry and wet blood. 'Am I bleeding?' Demons weren't immortal, but they're undoubtedly more resilient than a mortal. The second thing she perceived is a metal chain securely jumbled around most of her body, and that same chain had her hanging a few feet off the ground. She thrashed futilely around before losing heart, and now the chain had her slowly orbit.
"Charlie!"
The Hell Princess immediately gazed at Angel's somewhat alleviated expression. "Angel, are you okay? I'm so glad I found you!"
'Da fuck, why is she concerned about me?! Well, at least I know she doesn't have a concussion.' The spider stared at her thunderstruck before his face twisted in infuriation. "Have yah gone fuckin loonie on me?! What the hell are yah thinkin?!"
"I came here because I was worried about you. You never came home." Her heart sank a little.
"Yeah, right, why the hell do yah even care about me? Yah barely know me, and yah should've minded yur god damn business if I don't wanna be a part of yur program no more."
She listened, mortified by his words, which hurt her because of Angel's incapability to love himself. "Now wait just a minute here, mister! Huh—what the—?!" The chain suddenly rotated her in the opposite direction from him, and she puffed out her rosy cheeks, displeased. "When I revolve around, we're gonna have a serious discussion!"
Silent.
The blood from her father pounded mercilessly within her, and she struggled against the chain again. A flame ignited within her palms; growing hotter, it liquified the chains. "I care about you! Even if you don't care about yourself, I still care! I know you're lying to me, Angel. I can see it in you. You want to be redeemed, so let me help you!" The flames expelled out like a fiery vortex, and she elegantly landed on the ground.
'I don't get her… why does she care about me?' Angel bafflingly gawked at her.
Running over to the porn star, she grasped the metal chains. As the heat grew within her palms, it melted away the chains and liberated him. Angel fell to the knees, and she distraughtly obverse his weakened condition. 'He's beyond exhausted and malnourished, and not to mention all those injuries.'
"Hey, don't look at me like I'm some puppy with wheels for legs. I still got plenty of fight left in me." He scoffed, picking himself up off the ground. "How did yah even find me?"
"Alastor helped me, but we're on our own. Di-did Valentino do this to you?"
"That dick misses his precious money maker. He's been sending his goons all over the city to look for me. I took out twenty—no-no thirty of his men… but then I ran out of bullets." The spider might have exaggerated the number of demons he killed. "He didn't show his ugly face to me, but he sendz his love by holdin me hostage here until I agree to work for him again."
'Angel didn't go back to, Valentino?' Their conversation is cut short by the impending disturbance of sinners quarreling in the hallway, and judging from the sounds of their footsteps, they're fast-moving.
"This way, I know a shortcut." Angel abruptly announced. Glimpsing at the princess, he strode across the room, opposite where Charlie arrived.
They reached a long eerie, shabby-looking corridor, and a few feet across from them rested a sturdy narrow stairway. 'This place must have been an apartment building.' Suddenly, her ear twitched to the echoes of footsteps closing in; the princess gazed over the shoulder, witnessing a growing number of shadows. 'He's in no condition to fight. Angel's, my responsibility, and I won't let them take away his chance for redemption!'
"Angel, catch!" Tossing her Vphone over to a befuddled spider, he caught it in the nick of time. A ball of fire discharged within her hands, releasing it into the doorframe. The flames occluded the door and spitted their paths.
"Are you fuckin mad?!" The porn star jumped away from the unanticipated flames as the fire intensified in the doorway. Thick black smoke broadens the ceilings before it sank, and he automatically covered his mouth, suppressing the urge to cough and not inhale the smoke.
Charlie withheld the urgency to laugh at the irony of those very words. She sincerely smiled; her doe eyes burned tenderly with friendship. "Don't worry about me. Get going and call Vaggie. She'll know what to do. Oh, and I'm looking forward to your performance for the talent show!"
For a moment, Angel stared at that contagious smile; this time, instead of resisting it, he succumbed and returned a crock half-smile. "Fine, but don't go dyin on me!"
"Haha—I don't count on it! Now, get going, silly goose." With the flick of her wrist, the flames uplifted, obstructing their sight of each other. Revolving around, she hastily went back to the open room, and in mere seconds the sinners, hired by Val, emerged from where she entered the premises. 'Well, there goes my chance of going back the way I came in.'
"Shit, a fire!" A bear demon growled.
"Where the fuck did that slut go?" A male boar questioned, advancing to the center of the room, and a dozen sinners trailed closely behind.
"Shit, it's that fucking broad! I told you, we should have killed her on the spot. Look at what she did to Nathan!" A specter demon unkindly elbowed a snake in the forearm.
"Fuck you! I was just thinkin she sorta gotz a pretty face, and maybe Val could use her!" The snake hissed, rubbing his now tender arm.
While they argued amongst each other, Charlie discharged musical flames that surged upward into the wooden beams. The fire promptly scorched through the lumber, and it collapsed to the ground mere inches from them, obstructing their path to her. The brilliant flames discharged multiple fireworks, expanding its range across the room and deterring the sinners from crossing.
She blinked questionably, shocked at what type of guns they had. 'I don't know how in hell they got those blessing tip guns, but I can't risk getting too close.' Despite what unimaginable, horrid things they committed against Angel, she didn't want to fight them.
It's not in her nature.
While little the brawl at the castle bestowed her the confidence she so utterly lacked to fight back, she wasn't about to fight every demon in Pride Ring that frustrated her. That type of thinking contradicts everything she believed. Flames are lethal and potentially can kill. If there were no other alternative options to getting out of this sticky situation, she'd delightedly fight back to protect the ones she cared for and her dreams.
'Why not just give in to your inner demon? It's easier than running away. You know, it felt fantastic to kick that guy. Quit taking shit from other demons.' A strange voice sounding too much like hers spoke up, but she vehemently shoved the thought aside. From the narrow spiral stairway, the princess sprinted two stories. Thankfully a generator granted limited service to the emergency lights, so she wasn't entirely in the dark. The sinners must have hotwired the electric breaker to establish power. 'So there's some power that's reassuring.' Her gaze led over to a lit elevator sign. "Bingo!"
She bee-lined it to the elevator, smashing multiple times the button to the elevator door. "Come on, come on, come on!" No mechanical sound, how unfortunate. Perhaps, the elevator malfunction during the recent turf wars.
"Where are yah going, sweet cheeks?!" A bear demon howled, storming up the stairs.
'Goodie gumdrops!' Charlie sarcastically thought, believing she ditched them. The stunt she pulled, which separated her from Angel, diverted their attention from his whereabouts to hers. 'Good, at least my diversion worked.' She forsook the elevator idea and dashed further up the spiraling stairs. 'If I can find a window, I can blast my way out!' She sensed multiple gunshots echoing right behind her, a significant bullet demolished a brittle corner of the wall, and she stumbled in response to the adjacent gunfire. The Hell Princess veered around the corner only to abruptly catch the end of the stair w, jerking backward from the incomplete, destroyed stairway. A few pieces of debris dropped into the eternal abyss, and a few seconds later, she perceived the faintest sound of the pebble. The structure reminded her of the game Jenga. She speculated what portions kept everything intact and what potential force could collapse everything from within.
The damaged ceiling generously exposed a few stories beyond. Charlie's black wings materialized, launching herself into the air. She gazed around, underestimating the devastation within the building. Some areas stood reasonably firm, but other zones were sealed away by numerous debris. Charlie ascended four more stories until the following area's celling was enclosed, and she discovered a boarded-up window. 'Finally!'
The bear demon swung to the last corner of the stairwell. Aiming at the exposed ceiling, the sinner saw portions of black wings, and he held down the trigger from the gun, yet nothing happened. "You gotta be fuckin shittin me. I'm out of bullets?!" He let out a long, exasperating sigh and tossed the gun aside. "She ain't gettin rid of me that easily."
At present, Angel should be at a safe distance from this area, and with any luck, Vaggie will arrive, she wholeheartedly hoped. The heiress soared across the long dust-filled corridor towards the window. A fireball developed within her palms…
"Come here, bitch!" Caleb, the bear, instantaneously snatched the ends of her hair, and like a frisbee, he tossed her diagonally against an apartment room tenuous wall. She bellowed out in agony from impact, and the fireball promptly extinguished. The wall collapsed upon contact as clouds of dust spread throughout the hallway leading into the tiny room. Tresses of her hair ripped off; subsequently, his lost grip of the princess.
Charlie's body tumbled and rolled obliquely into the room, and after the last rotation, she remained motionless, sidelong. Automatically she held her ribs that dealt with the critical collision from the wall, and her marvelous wings dematerialized. The feral blood of her father pumped viciously within her, and adrenaline momentarily ceased her pain.
Specks of ferocity flashed into her eyes; her brows furrowed. She pushed herself off the ground and bit the inside of her cheeks to endure the pain.
"If yah know what's good for yah, yah would've played dead." The bear sinner announced, braving through the thick descending dust clouds.
"I have this funny quirk about myself. I never seem to call it quits." Charlie rasped.
With no moment's rest for the heiress, he launched at her, swinging his fist at her, and she evaded the assault by swooping halfway down and countered by narrowly closing the gap between them. Her fist soared upward into the bear's throat, and he choked from abrupt the absences of oxygen. He uncontrollably staggering about then dropped to the knees.
The princess cruelly rammed Caleb into the dirty, cold floor, and she unevenly sat on his chest with each knee to the floor. Balling her fists, she relentlessly and repetitively beat the wolf with both as blood from his nose and mouth coated her knuckles.
"Fucking, bitch!" The sinner's oversized hand ensnared her petite one, and his other rapidly punched her in the gut.
She wheezed in pain; her vision distorted temporarily. She didn't know what hurt worse, the blow to the head or getting rag-dolled like a fly swatter into the wall. 'This guy is built like a lumberjack!'
He reversed their positions, pulling out a long pocket knife; he held it diagonally.
In the nick of time, her vision returned, and she caught the sight of the plumping blade's path towards her neck. She apprehensively grabbed his immense wrist with both hands.
They struggled against each other's might.
Ultimately, his brute strength overwhelmed her deteriorating condition. 'He's too strong! I gotta use my fire to end this… but that means I have to let go to aim.' Her right hand released his wrist, and the left remains. She somewhat deviated her grounded body to the side, which changed the route of the imminent blade. It plunged into her shoulder.
"Aaahh!" Her mouth opened in a frozen scream; tears welled up in the corner of her demonic eyes. Within her right palm, discharged a declining fireball, she balled her fist and punched Caleb's cheekbone. The fire enshrouded his face, and he screamed for just a millisecond before the room turned absolute silence.
The sinner's unconscious body collapsed on the floor next to her. His entire face scorched nastily with third-degree burns, and from the neck up, virtually all his brown fur burnt off, exposing bloody pink flesh and white bone.
Slowly withdrawing the blade from her shoulder, she soundlessly wailed. Warmblood quickly poured; it drenched through her crimson coat and trickled down her arm. She rolled over to the side, pushing sluggishly up off the ground as she incoherently staggered around. Her mind went blank, voided by all rational thoughts but one, a voice seductively whispered into her mind. 'Do it, you know, you want to.' The heiress unhurriedly loomed over the unconscious bear. The smell of scorched hide penetrated her nostrils, and she clenched the pocket blade, exasperated. 'You were only defending yourself, so it's completely justifiably! He deserves to die!' Her inner demon sweetly murmured.
Her fingers twitched in anticipation; she barely elevated her arm when all of a sudden, a stronger yet weeping voice spoke to her. 'Please… don't do it! Charlie, this isn't you!' The overload of emotions immobilized her body, one part of her mind alluringly whispered to take a life, but the other side pleaded against it. Charlie's face suddenly softened; tears blurred her docile eyes returned, blinking several times to get rid of the blur as she aimlessly tossed the knife to the farthest end of the room.
'I gotta stop the bleeding.' Lobbing her crimson jacket off, she tore the sleeve, then tightly rotated the fabric around her shoulder to secure it and discarded the coat sluggishly veered out of the small room, placing her hand against the wall to stay balanced. Her body prayed for her to stop and rest; however, if she closed her eyes for too long, she surely would fall unconscious. Black specks clouded her vision, and the pain from all over became more and more viciously intense, yet she continued to press on. 'I don't think I fly… maybe there is a fire escape at the rooftop?' Coincidentally at the end of the corridor, revealed a fire exit symbol directing to the left.
After what felt like an eternity of straggling up a short stairwell, the princess opened the door to see the last touch of sunlight. She meandered over to the fire escape metal stairs, glimpsing downward to see that more than half of the steps are in ruin. A long sigh escaped her lips, her shoulders slouch. 'Now what?'
"End of the line, toots." A boar announced his timely presence along with several goons lurking behind him.
'Dear Universe, Charlie here. When I said, 'you're out to get me,' I was sarcastic, and I didn't need you to prove it to me!' Charlie's mind hollered to a cosmos, knowing she wouldn't get a reply. 'Where did they come from?'
After a storm
I wanna let go
Of the things that I've done
Without any worry
I wanna come home
Into the light
Into the unknown
I want to be shameless
Like the sun
Moving into you
Enter light
Turning around, the Hell Princess silently stared at the sinners.
"Michael, kill the bitch already!" A feline demon hissed at his partner.
Michael perplexedly stared at her, trying to connect the dots of where he saw her before. The idea suddenly came, and he unsettlingly smirked. "I know you. You're that whacky bitch from T.V! You're the one that wants to save sinners."
"Who cares!"
"Shut the fuck up, or I'll put a bullet in your head!" The boar maliciously scowled at the other goons before returning his attention to the heiress. "She's worth more to us alive than dead. She's the princess of hell, and I bet her family would pay a fortune for her safe return."
'They want to hold me hostage? I won't let my family get caught up in the mess that I created.' No way would she play the part of a captive princess.
"Oh shit, you're right!" A specter demon added.
"You think we should cut one of her fingers off and send it to them along with a ransom letter?" The feline questioned.
"Now you're thinkin." Michael concurred.
A shadow obscured most of Charlie's face, and her lips curved up into a white-fanged grin. "You guys are dumber than you look." Her hands went behind her back, concentrating with all her might for fire to manifest, yet no flicker. The feeling of a dizzy spell came on, discombobulated; she steps back, and the heel of her foot touched the edge of the roof.
"What the fuck you just say?" The boar sinner carelessly approached her.
"Don't get too close to her!"
"If she wanted to incinerate us with fire, she would have done it, and besides, she looks like shit. I don't think she has any energy left." Michael vigilantly obverse her new bloody appearance. 'She must have fought Jason and won. He ain't around.'
"I said you're a bunch of dummies if you think my father would give you a penny for my save return! He disowned me months ago." Deliberately she lied to protect her family.
"Oh, yeah?" Michael's irritated eyes illuminated, and a spit of a second, he captured her tiny neck, lifting the princess off the ground and reeled her in.
The Hell Princess gasped for air and fruitlessly pounded her fists against his arm.
"If you're so certain that sinners are redeemable, then die for your beliefs." The boar sinner effortlessly flung her off the roof…
Time slows down…
Welcome
Insha'Allah, Insha'Allah
Enter one
Amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are of this light divine
So come,
We move as one
Amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are on this light divine
Welcome
Enter one
As if in slow motion, Charlie slowly descended in midair, soundlessly. Was it the initial shock of plummeting or the sense of relief that her problems did not burden her parents and Angel's safety? Strong winds whipped loose her unsecured low ponytail, and the breeze caught her pale blonde hair, which cascaded haphazardly across her features. 'Come on, fly!' Closing her doe eyes tightly, and prayed if she concentrates here-and-now on her determination, perhaps her dwindling energy would permit her wings to sprout and that she might survive this experience.
A little white feather manifested behind her back, and the winds guided it off to the unknown. She exhausted any reversed energy, and she couldn't summon her bodyguards in this condition.
'Am I going to… die?' The pain was nearly driving her unconscious, yet the heiress cracked opened her blank eyes. To her surprise, she saw a strange narrow spectrum of white light looming overhead, and the feeling of a sense of peace overtaken her mind…
The void awaited…
'… No! I don't want to die!' Her soul rejected the peace. There was too much to live for, and she had yet to see her hotel flourish!
At the same time
"Hey, toots, can you hear me?" Angel shouted into the receiver of the princess's Vphone. Thanks to her distraction, no one shadowed him, and he was at a safe distance from the abandoned buildings.
"Angel?! What—why do you have Charlie's phone?" A million questions arose within Vaggie, but she regrettably picked that one. "I'm sorry… that came out wrong—"
The spider interjected. "Fuck, never mind that it's Charlie—she's…." His face twisted distressingly, seeing from afar a sinner tossing the heiress off the roof. The phone slipped from his grasp to the ground.
"What about, Charlie? Hello? Hello?!"
'Why did she refuse me?' The question plagued Alastor's mind with no real resolution. To make a deal with him was the logical choice, but his plaything was beyond logic. He didn't take into reason just how naïve and unpredictable she can be. The sounds of static only played through his tightened jaw. Opening his illumined ruby eyes, he saw something peculiar that caught his attention, or rather someone plummeting off a building. 'That's… Charlie.'
If only she made a deal with him when she had the chance, she wouldn't be in this predicament. The logical side of his mind told him not to intervene since he had nothing to gain, yet a new emotion festered at him. Frustration and apprehension?
Should he intercede to execute his ultimate game or cut his losses and move on? 'What to do, what to do.' His claws agitatedly twitched within his pocket; his fingertips rolled over a set of loose gold coins. The idea struck him. There was no answer to any of these questions, except one, let fate decide, whereas he stood on the far sidelines and gambled on her life.
When faced with two choices with no resolve, simply toss a coin. Pulling out a polished gold coin, Alastor silently stared at it.
Heads, he would save her.
Tails, she dies.
He flicked the golden coin into the air. The ascending coin aimlessly revolved until gravity took effect and fell to the ground. It slowly bounced far apart, and the speed increased while the gap grew closer…
"Alastor!" Charlie cried out; her sentence filled with sobs.
The Radio Demon's body unconsciously answered her call, unable to control his reaction to it while his mind was left uncomfortably bewildered. Using his shadow manipulation capabilities, he spatial warped into the sky and caught the Hell Princess in his arms before she hit the ground.
The coin fell on tails.
He graciously landed on the ground. Kneeling on one knee, he set the heiress's lower body down to the earth. "Are you okay?" The foreign words escaped his mouth, and when she didn't respond, his gaze wandered over to her face. Her face was half bloodied, and one of her arms was covered in blood by a shoulder wound. The warm blood soaked into his glove that held her shoulder.
The princess glimpsed up at him despite her obvious pain; she smiled. Laying still in his arms, exceedingly fatigued, yet soothed by the heat of his body. She drifted off into a deep sleep.
Alastor gently placed Charlie's body to the ground and stood up. In his maddening state of mind, convincing himself, he saved her for the reason that no one will take away what's his. A predator's grin formed on his mouth; his yellow fangs gleam from the remnants of the sunlight. His pupils converted into small radio dials, and he stared up at the building from where the heiress fell. The overlord's antlers wildly grew at the top of his head, his body thinly elongated, and dark blood trickled down from his lower lip to jawline.
He spatial wrapped up the structure, and his shadow followed. It grew double in size as it navigated around the building. The sounds of eerie static loomed closer and closer until finally, he rested at the rooftop. He predicted the one closest to the roof's edge was the one responsible for tossing the princess.
"Wh—what the fu-fuck?! It's the Radio Demon!" A cold sweat passed over Michael as if this is the first time he encountered the devil.
"GUaHhH!" Consistently deafening screams triggered the boar demon to whirl around in, and he stared in devastation. His comrades were being disemboweled alive. They hung up on a partly broken power line, and their entrails dangled down like Christmas tree decorations.
The overlord summoned his long red microphone staff. "I must thank you, you've inspired me to broadcast my c̶̢͉͕̰͒a̷̫̙̱̜̔̊̎̈r̴̩̒͂n̷͇͂ä̴̯͎́̎̈ģ̴͙̊̊̿e̶͙͒͛ ̶̗̳̓ once again." He vindictively spoke. The microphone amplified his voice, and it illuminated as he manipulated it with demonic ciphers, allowing it to hover in place. "I suddenly have the strangest hankering for p̷̹̗̎ȯ̷̢͖̀r̵̮̟̉̎̌k̶̞̲̰̯̈́."
"You son of a bitch!" Michael heatedly turned to Alastor, trying to reach for his gun, but astonishingly something was absent…
"Need a hand?" Shifting his arm from behind his back to uncover the sinner's bloody forearm, which the shadows stealthily procured for him. "You know, I really hate cads that don't show a bit of proper respect to a dame."
"Wait… please have mercy!" Inching slowly away, he trembled in misery.
Alastor laughed monstrously as the radio audience adjoined him, then everything went eerier silent. His eyes transformed into black abyss holes, staring down at his humorous prey. "Hahaha—mercy in hell? No—no—no, this sir, is the afterlife that you have chosen, and I am your e̶̝̙̓̒͊x̵̢̱̿e̸̦č̸̹̩͕u̵̜̩̯͋̍t̷̻̣̎ī̵͖̃o̸͎̮͒̈̚ǹ̶͎̈͛ẽ̵̤̱r̴̪̥̱̆."
"Ahh—gUhH!"
Chomp.
Pop.
Snap!