Vaggie expected to be punished as soon as they arrived home, but that did not happen. She was released from her restraints, taken to her room, served dinner like she was the other night, and left alone like nothing had happened. It was unnerving.
Like the other night, Vaggie took her dinner to the bathroom and sent Angel his rations through the vent while filling him in on all that had happened. During that time, nothing happened.
When they were done, Vaggie returned her tray to the magical cart, watched it fly out of the room, and prepared herself for bed in the bathroom as she had the night before.
Vaggie knew something was off. Angel did, too. He tried to comfort her as she took her nightly shower.
"Vaggie, it wasn't your fault," Angel said through the wall.
"Yes, it was," Vaggie said as she angrily scrubbed the soap through her hair. "I can't believe I was so fucking stupid. I acted too soon. I should have waited for a better time."
Angel scoffed and said, "I seriously doubt that you could have found a better opportunity, babe. We both know that even if the moron trusted you there was no way he would have left you alone for any length of time. He is far too enamored."
Vaggie finished aggressively scrubbing her hair and moved on to angrily washing her face and the rest of her body.
"But now, you're going to pay for what I did!" Vaggie yelled out in frustration. "And it's all my fault!"
Angel chuckled and said, "You know this ain't my first rodeo, doll. You should also know by now that I live for this sort of thing. I'll be fine."
Vaggie punched the wall as her eyes began to well up with tears. The tears, water, and soap mixed together as she stood there letting the shower rinse her off. After a long day of holding back, Vaggie finally let out her cries of anger, frustration, and crushed hopes. She tried to remain quiet, but despite her best efforts, the running water could not cover up the sound of her sobs.
Angel heard Vaggie crying and said, "You're being too hard on yourself, Vaggie. You're forgetting that we're dealing with a kingpin here. They don't have their reputation for nothing. I would know. Valentino has owned me for years. And I'd say, considerin' the circumstances, it's amazing you've been doin' this well. Today wasn't a total loss. Nifty now knows where you've been, and as much faith as Alastor puts in her, I seriously doubt she's good at keeping secrets. Even Nifty doesn't sing, Charlie is bound to know something's up. She could even find the maps if she's careful. Even if that doesn't happen, if nothin' else, you proved to that SOB that you ain't no pushover. No matter what he does to punish us, I don't want ya to worry. Cuz I know that whatever Alastor has waiting for us we'll get through it like we have everything else he has put us through. Okay?"
Vaggie smiled in response as she finally noticed that the soap was all washed off her body.
After double-checking to make sure that was the case, Vaggie shut off the shower, grabbed her towel, and said, "Thank you."
"Don't worry about it, hon," Angel said. "Just strong for me and I'll stay strong for you. Got it?"
"Okay," Vaggie said with a smile as she pulled on the blue night slip and the underwear that went with it, wrapped her hair in a towel, and wrapped herself in a blue bathrobe. "You know, I think Charlie was right about you. You do have a rainbow inside you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but keep it between you and me or else I'll have to tell everyone about our make-out session in the dungeon," Angel replied with a chuckle.
Vaggie giggled as she unwrapped her hair, ran a brush through it, and said, "I'll try to keep that in mind."
"You'd better," Angel said sarcastically. "Are you almost done? I want to read some more."
"I'm almost done. I just need to brush my teeth. Can you wait that long?"
"If I must. this is my only entertainment of the day after all since Alastor has forbidden me from summoning my guns to shoot his statues."
"Wait," Vaggie said without stopping her hair brushing. "You were shooting at Alastor's statues?"
"Yeah," Angel said chuckling under his breath. "It was something entertaining to do since I finally have the use of all my arms again. I got bored in between my knock-out smoothies, so I limped over to the window, leaned against the window pane, and started aiming at Alastor's statues. I knocked the heads off a few of them. It was fun until Alastor appeared in my room and threatened to break my arms again if I didn't stop."
"What a killjoy," Vaggie said preparing her toothbrush to brush her teeth.
"You're telling me," Angel said. "You should have seen him when I started shooting holes in the ceiling."
Vaggie chuckled to herself as she brushed her teeth and looked forward to another peaceful night with Angel.
Unfortunately for both of them, that was not to be.
As soon as Vaggie switched on the water to rinse her toothbrush off in the sink, she heard muffled shouts and the sound of Angel struggling on the other side of the wall.
Vaggie quickly shut off the sink, set her toothbrush down, and ran over to the wall.
"Angel?!" Vaggie called out. "Angel, are you alright?!"
Angel's muffled yelling and sounds of straining on top of the small bed immediately let Vaggie know that he had been gagged and tied down.
Vaggie backed away from the wall fearfully as the lights went out on her side.
Just then, the door flew open and Vaggie felt something rough tie itself around her wrists and ankles and yank her out of the bathroom, across her room, and onto her bed. Then she felt her limbs become restrained and pulled down as the ropes tied themselves to the legs of the bed frame.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" Vaggie shrieked at the top of her lungs.
Alastor chuckled darkly as he approached Vaggie's vulnerable form and tied a handkerchief around her mouth.
"This is your punishment for the damage you caused today, dear," Alastor said. "You must learn your lesson, so you will remain like this until morning."
Vaggie ceased struggling and let her eyes settle into an angry glare.
Alastor merely smiled and snapped his fingers, causing a sleeping blindfold to appear over Vaggie's eyes.
"There," Alastor said amusedly. "That should help you fall asleep more easily."
Vaggie immediately began moving her head around in a frenzy to get the blindfold off. She heard Alastor chuckle for a second before he turned on his heels, walked out of the room, and shut and locked the door behind him.
Vaggie continued to struggle madly against her restraints, but all she succeeded in doing was rubbing her wrists and ankles raw. So, after only a few minutes of fruitless fighting, she had to give up and try to force herself to relax, which under the circumstances felt impossible.
To make matters even worse, Vaggie suddenly began to feel someone watching her.
Vaggie tried listening closely to the room around her, but she couldn't hear anything beyond her own breathing. That did nothing to calm her nerves.
Vaggie's heart started beating quicker. It was terrifying to feel like she was alone and yet she felt as though someone else was with her. Yet there was nothing the poor moth demon could do. She was blinded, gagged, and unable to move, so she decided to make herself go to sleep and wait for morning.
Oddly enough, sleep came quickly and Vaggie was asleep within minutes.
Alastor watched in the shadows as she slept.
When he was sure his magic had made her fall asleep, Alastor changed from his shadow form and approached the bed. He examined Vaggie's sleeping form as she lay still in her restrains, her chest rising and falling with each breath.
Alastor couldn't help but be transfixed. Vaggie was so beautiful and so strong even in her helpless state.
Alastor smiled gently as he pulled off his coat and his shoes leaving the latter on the floor before climbing on top of the bed next to his betrothed and covering them both with the former.
Vaggie was in a deep sleep and didn't feel Alastor lay himself next to her nor feel his arms snake around her waist. Neither did Vaggie feel his head resting against her shoulder as he buried his face in her hair, deeply inhaled her scent, and started whispering in her ear.
"My goddess and inspiration," Alastor huskily whispered. "You are so soft against my skin. Next week, we will be wed and we will be together always."
From the other room, Alastor could hear Angel's muffled screams of pain as Rosie had her way with him.
Alastor smiled sadistically as Angel's agonized and muffled screams made their way to his ears and pulled him into sleep next to Vaggie.