Chapter 27: Wrath of the Radio Demon
The next day was just too atrocious in Auradon.
It had been difficult fixing Evie's mirror. The Fairy Godmother and Mal had to work on some serious magic to fix every individual shard. No demonic attacks had occurred in Auradon, but the trauma of Beatrice Deetz's visit had traumatized a lot of people. Mal sent a message to Hades, who immediately came the moment he heard that a half-ghost, half-human hybrid had attacked them.
"You're playing with bad cards here," Hades shook his head as they added the final finishing touches to fixing the mirror.
"I know."
"Audrey will end up dying for real the moment the truth comes out; at this rate, accomplishing her contract with her demon might be the only thing that will save her."
"Any clues underground?" Ben asked.
"It's too weird in Hell at the moment. I've been gone for nearly a couple demon years, a few weeks on the surface. I don't know what's going on, but Hell is getting restless. Something's happening…" Hades got interrupted when a guard busted the doors open.
"King Ben! Lady Mal! The sorceress is in front of the castle!"
"What?" Mal felt her face paling. "We agreed on December!"
"She said it's for something else!"
No one wasted time and rushed to the front of the castle. Even though it was fall and the sky was cloudy, the temperature still felt like it did in late spring. Crowds of people, both from Auradon and the Isle, muttered to each other in confusion. Penna De Mort and Marius Bogfae casually leaned on the stone railing of the staircase. It must have gotten a bit colder for their tastes since both wore fancy jeweled cloaks that reached their feet.
"Lady De Mort…" Mal bowed. "I hope you haven't changed your mind, but we're still working out on our decision."
"As fascinating as it is to see proper fine print being followed, I'm not here to pester you," Penna said quietly. "I'm giving a break to Maleficent's daughter… to humiliate another family." Penna's bluish eyes flashed with twisted glee when she spotted Queen Aurora, King Philip, Queen Leah, and King Hubert standing among those who had just come out of the castle. "By the way, Audrey was such a delight."
The crowd gasped. The group felt like their stomachs had been turned into massive, bleeding knots. The sorceress had realized that Audrey crossed the wall and the mist! "Please tell me you didn't…" Aurora begged.
"Kill her? NO! What do you think I am, a savage?" Penna exclaimed. "Can you believe this, Marius? They immediately assume I'd murder a teenager who ran away from home!"
Mal let out a relieved sigh. "Oh!"
"Sure, I have a general 'no Auradon royalty across the wall' policy, but that's like when you try to invade us. Not when some hormonal princess runs away from home because everyone treated her like shit and she suffered an existential crisis that led to an indirect self-exile followed by adventures of self-discovery and genuine friendships. Wow. Note to myself: turn that one-pitch sentence into a nonfiction book!"
"Is…" Queen Leah hesitated. "Is my grandmother doing alright?"
"What, you miss her?" Penna snorted. "Your sentiments ain't gonna make me feel benevolent enough to bring her back." She clasped her hands together. Her pet snake appeared from a nearby bush and coiled itself over its mistress's shoulders. Marius straightened himself as his girlfriend stood before the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen… and the riffraff. I come bearing delightful news. Well, delightful for me. It's come to my attention that Auradon has been suffering from the… pillaging of a demon who's working on fulfilling the end of its upcoming contract with his client. Good news for new, I think it should all be over in a matter of time."
Happy sighs came from the crowd.
"The delightful news is that due to a curse I enacted on King Stefan upon his death, it's very likely that the kingdom of Sleeping Beauty will fall into chaos the future moment the ex-Princess Audrey marries her intended. My best guess? The demon she summoned. Who it is, I could care less. MAZEL TOV!"
A series of shocks came from the crowd while Audrey's family looked horrified.
"You FIEND!" Merryweather exclaimed, nearly ready to throttle the sorceress until Marius stood between them. He gave her a cold glare that forced the fairy to bow before him.
"Not that I don't admire the irony of fate, but whatever gave you such inspiration, De Mort?" Hades calmly asked.
"Vengeance." Penna shrugged. "It's highly repetitive, but in the end, everything is personal. You see, I provided a very authentic fine print to your ex, she wastes it on cursing a babe because some ROYAL BITCHES thought they could pull a second rate dick move by not inviting her, then a hairy moron breaks apart the universe to create a dysfunctional utopia where you have to lead an exodus of people who refuse to sacrifice their chaotic freedom, and you make a stop to realize that one of the same dicks, aka King Stephan, tried to make a move on harming your infant goddaughter." The snake seemed to hiss in agreement. "I'm sure you know how it went down, you being a miniscule pagan death god. The Auradonian monarchs hide the truth: they preferred to say that Stephan died of natural causes than by the strangle of a Troll king trying to protect his baby… and no had a clue that I cursed his dying corpse." She turned to the crowd. "A curse to ensure that the entire family would never be happy. Had Aurora given birth to a son, no heirs would come from him. Since she gave birth to a daughter, the girl's true love and personal happiness would come from a demon… at the expense of others!"
"You… You betrothed my daughter to a demon?" King Philip practically yelled and raised his sword. "How dare you!"
"How dare I?" Penna turned to Marius. "Can you believe this, sweetie? It's the same people who already cursed baby Aurora to a brat ten-years-older than her or whatnot, thought they could be dicks by snubbing on a dark fairy, encouraged totalitarian measures to create a false utopia without even asking 'Hey, do you mind if we steal your lands and basically rip off the universe for our biased concept of good and evil?' The same people who forced thousands to flee, who probably never knew that the same king who snubbed a dark fairy tried to harm the goddaughter of a dangerous sorceress…" She looked venomously at Aurora and Queen Leah and hissed: "… and the same people who treated their only heir as nothing more than a political tool. I saw her like two days ago and she looked perfectly fine. She didn't seem to miss you at all!"
"Audrey wouldn't never say that!" Ben said.
"You know, when I said I met a group of Auradonian refugees accompanied by a creepy red stag, I should have mentioned that I picked up the stench of you royals on her," Marius spoke up quietly. "I did tell her that everyone would kill her out of vengeance. I told her I could just kill her to avoid such bloodshed. And do you know what she said?"
"She said she'd rather die…" Queen Leah guessed miserably.
"She wouldn't say that!" Ben protested.
"She would…" Mal quietly agreed, "…when she thought everyone hated her."
Marius solemnly nodded. "Audrey said 'And you have every right. There's nothing that can convince you that I might be any different from my family. There's nothing that I can say that can beg you to spare me. The only thing I can hope is that you can imagine why I left Auradon… and after what I went through and what I just saw, it's unlikely that I'll ever go back.' And when I asked her if she had no moral guilt in leaving everything behind, she said she was creating her own destiny since she never had one. You people are pathetic."
"Join the club."
The sudden voice of Beatrice Deetz alarmed everyone to look up at the castle's doorway. Just above it, on top of a gargoyle, the pesky hybrid was lounging, using the stone statue as a couch. Her fingers shoveled through a box of chocolate treats shaped like beetles and drenched in green syrup. Beatrice stuffed a handful of beetles in her mouth.
"Deetz? What are you doing here?" Penna frowned. "I thought you and Osbourne were on your way to Villainapolis to catch up with Audrey?"
"We were, but Ozzy's pet got into an accident, we got stuck in a motel, and I had to put a 24-hour sleeping spell on her to get here. Emergency problem." Beatrice hopped off the gargoyle and onto the main ground. Rather than her usual Gothic Lolita dress, she had gone with a wide-striped pinstripe suit and fedora, only her tie and hat band were maroon-colored with green beetle patterns. "Want some?" Beatrice held out her box. "Cocoa beetles soaked in absinthe."
"No thanks, I already had my doses of green pixies," Marius waved off her offer drily.
"Oh well. More for me." Beatrice shrugged.
"Deetz." Penna's tone got cold. When she hissed those words, her snake hissed as well. "What was the emergency problem that caused you to go across the mist on enemy turf? While you're supposed to look for your friend who got thrown in the biggest vice—indulging pit of this mortal plane?"
"Alastor."
That word caused Penna to freeze in her place and for Marius to nearly stumble. If there were any adult villains in the crowd who had risen back from the dead, they screamed and ran back home. Facilier, who was among the group who just stepped out of the castle, was now shivering like a fallen leaf before the snowstorm.
"A… A… A… Ala… Alas…" He could barely choke out the words before he feebly asked. "Alastor is here…"
"You know him?" Queen Leah asked in shock.
"Yeah, the old 'friends from the other side' were actually minor Loa spirits under Alastor's servitude." Beatrice finished off the beetles. "He said it was hilarious, torturing you in Hell for wasting his servants' time until you got sent back among the living. I wish I had seen it."
"THE RADIO DEMON IS PURE EVIL!" Facilier exclaimed in panic.
"Wow, you realize this now?" Beatrice asked.
"Hey, Beatrice. My good old Beatrice," Penna nervously chuckled and patted Beatrice on the shoulder. "Why is he here?"
"Because he wants to talk with all of you about a problem he's having." Beatrice pointed at the group, Marius, and Penna before finally pointing at Penna. "He's VERY angry with you right now. He's waiting for us inside at the dining hall."
"HE WAS INSIDE THE CASTLE ALL THIS TIME?" Facilier exclaimed.
"No, we just got here. We stopped by one of the other castles… He lashed out the entire staff."
"Which… castle did he go to?" Mal nervously asked.
"You'll find out."
Minutes later
Beatrice led them back inside the castle. Somehow, despite being a tourist, Beatrice somehow knew her way around the place and got them to the mahogany doors that led to the dining room. Ever since she started dating Ben, Mal had often been invited to have dinner with his family in that same dining room. Fancily furnished, dark blue walls and golden chandeliers, a polished mahogany table with cushioned chairs, and a marble chimney that was always light up. The staff constantly kept it clean, you'd almost see the wooden floor shine.
The moment Beatrice popped the door open, the scent of blood overwhelmed them, even Penna's pet snake gagged. But the most horrifying, however, were the hundreds of ripped human organs spread all over the floor and the walls drenched in a new crimson shade. The fire in the chimney was unusually bright, its sparks leaving a smoke with bitter scents. A feast was laid out on the table, consisting of wine, jambalaya, étouffée, gumbo, shrimp creole, beignets, and what looked like a silver tray buried in layers of fresh meat. Only one chair was positioned at the table and it had its back turned on the group. A black gloved hand with red tips held out a clean plate; small shadow-like creatures snuck out the table and went on to refill the demon's plate with jambalaya.
"Godfather!" Beatrice practically sang as she frolicked her way to the chair.
"GODFATHER?" Most of them freaked out.
"Oh, I forgot about that…" Penna groaned. "Beatrice's parents are friends with him…"
"I brought the imbeciles!" Beatrice stood before the demon. "The underaged imbeciles, the royal imbeciles, the evil imbeciles, and the demonic imbeciles! Oh, and I also got the imbecile who wasted your time!"
A strange sound came from the other side of the chair, like the scratching sound of a radio. Then, without warning, the chair spun at 180 degrees, revealing the six-foot-tall (and perhaps taller) demon. His dark red suit was old-fashioned and seriously tightened, the only inches of revealed gray skin was that of his face. His red hair ended with black patches on his deer-like ears and lower cowlicks, with two small pitch-black antlers sticking out. His eyes, from the sclera to the irises, were red, with a monocle resting on his right one. Two things were the most disturbing about that demon: the large, perfectly straight fanged smile he had stretching all the way to his eyes and the fact that for a red-colored, animalistic demon who looked like he was eager to kill someone, he still had the physical charming features of a man in his early thirties.
"Thank you, Beatrice." The moment he talked, they realized that the radio static was actually coming from him, like he was talking through it. "Why don't you help yourself with some beignets? I had some of them filled with scarabs, just the way you like it!"
"Aw, thanks!" Beatrice giggled. "Did you turn the knights into scarabs? Or maybe the stable boys?"
"The entire kitchen staff! Don't worry, my precious. I ripped off their repulsive human fat before transforming them. I know how sensitive your stomach is to protein fat."
Most of the group wanted to gag. Here they were, watching a cannibal encourage his goddaughter to eat pastries stuffed with proteins from humans transformed into bugs. "What happened to that fat chef you mauled? Louie, was it?" Beatrice took a bite of a beignet. Small legs and shells could be seen sticking out.
"Horace. His name was Horace, and what happened to him… Let's just say his meat is average compared to venison." Right on cue, Alastor's fork poked into a bleeding piece of raw meat and pulled it into his mouth.
"Horace…" Aurora gasped in horror. The queen then saw the familiar faces of the dead corpses spread all over the dining room. "You… you killed my entire my entire staff…"
Out of fury, Merryweather prepared to point her wand at the demon, but a shadow appeared from underneath the chair. It had to be at least six times bigger than the ones serving around the table and looked too much like it could be Alastor's own shadow. The shadow grabbed Merryweather and threw her into a wooden piece of furniture, destroying all the fancy dishes in it.
"MERRYWEATHER!" The other Good Fairies exclaimed before Alastor snapped his fingers. A dark red aura filled with small, glowing voodoo glyphs surrounded him while dark Eldritch tentacles appeared and coiled around the three fairies, nearly suffocating them like snakes do to rats until the victims transformed into trees. Alastor summoned the abominations away and stopped glowing, going back to eating from his plate while everyone looked in horror at the trees that used to be the fairy godmothers… with Flora and Merryweather having pink and blue flowers respectively.
"Y…Your Lordship…" Facilier quivered like a leaf, he couldn't even smile, especially when Alastor and Beatrice both turned their heads at 90 degrees to look at him. "Y… You seem well."
"Same to you, old friend." The sound of radio static seemed more agitated when he said those last words. He suddenly disappeared into the shadows, off his chair and five inches in front of Facilier. "You've certainly regained your sense of non-existent humanity when you were released from Hell. My servants missed torturing you. But of course, you know how I say it, don't you?"
"You're never fully dressed without a smile?"
"Very." Alastor noted the presence of Celia. "I see that you became a father, Facilier! How quaint! I suppose Tiana's words rang truth when she resisted you!"
"Quite." Facilier managed to regain his composure and put himself between Alastor and his daughter. "May I respect your five-foot rule, Alastor?"
"Of course." Alastor still smiled, exposing those teeth of his as he walked back to his chair. "Busy as ever, Penelope?"
At first, nobody knew who he was talking to until they saw Penna grimacing. "Dandy as ever, Alastor. Rotating between resolving old contracts in this sugar shithole and keeping balance with the chaotic miscreants on the other side. You know, keeping things separate in this chaotic world we live in. Being a fan of order falling apart, I'm sure you understand."
"Of course, darling. Besides visiting the good old Ghost With The Most, lovely Lydia, and my precious here, I visit Macabretown for the joys of chaotic, macabre-adoring mortal hooligans." Beatrice was sitting on the table and eating beignets, putting at a close enough level for Alastor to affectionately ruffle her hair without even leaving the chair.
"So… what's the problem?" Penna frowned. "Unless Chez Lecter went out of business or they banned jazz business for the skeleton float of next year's Mardi Gras parade, I can't exactly help you."
"Not because we don't think it's worth our time!" Marius spoke up with his best effort at a reassuring smile. "But an overlord of your rank, power, and reputation surely wouldn't waste his time with the lowly services of two non-human magic enforcers."
"Excuse me?" Penna scoffed at her boyfriend, who merely hissed at her to work with him.
"It's interesting you discuss lowly services." Alastor held up his finger. "You see, besides a select few in Macabretown and some hybrids here and there, I never do business with humans and the common sinful mortals. I am also known for never getting any opportunity to perform contracts with humans since none are courteous enough to use my assigned summoning ritual… and I am also known for being a VERY only one-man show. Spreading chaos and bloodshed in Hell… ON MY OWN." Alastor still smiled and sounded upbeat, but the air around him seemed to thicken and his antlers were starting to grow, creating bone-cracking sounds in the process. It was evident that despite his pasted smile, Alastor was getting angry.
Nobody had thought to close the dining room doors before getting in, so nobody realized Dude suddenly came in until he started barking at Alastor. That only seemed to make him angrier: his antlers grew to the point of scratching the walls, his red eyes darkened into empty blackness, and his fanged smile grew into a bigger one with dripping blood that violently hissed at Dude, sending the dog whimpering into Celia's arms. "Vile creature," Alastor hissed as he went back to normal, causing the Auradonians to shiver. Celia, however, realized that his hissing sounded familiar. Yes, it sounded very much like the hissing the figure had sent at Dude before escaping from Audrey's room! And the monstrous stag appearance? Didn't they say that Audrey left Auradon with a red stag that managed to injure Mal?
"It's you…" Celia said, causing everyone to look at her. "Audrey's demon…"
"Oh fuck…" Penna's face paled. "I was aware… but not to that point…"
"Oberon's horns, Penna!" Marius practically shouted. "Next time you use a curse to play karma matchmakers, could you make sure that one of Hell's overlords didn't fit the bill?"
"Hey, it could have been ANY demon! It's not MY fault if the cupcake called in the bigger eater!"
"No… It was mine…" Mal found herself touching the part of her arm, knowing that the demon's manifestation had bit her and that the demon who sent it was in the same room.
"You think?" Both Alastor and Beatrice said out loud.
"Wait… How long did you know about the curse I threw on King Stefan's legacy?" Penna was confused. "Until I met the kid a few days ago, nobody besides my own goddaughter knew about it. I didn't make it public until I decided to brag about it to Auradon!"
"I hate to break it to you, Lady De Mort, but the Villainapolis media was ahead of you." Beatrice waved out a newspaper. Somehow, without even ripping the paper, Beatrice managed to stretch the newspaper until it was her own height, making the headlines big enough for anyone to see.
APOKOLIPS NOW OWNED BY QUEEN OF MEAN! NEWEST ALL-STAR TURNS OUT TO BE RADIO DEMON'S BETROTHED!
"'As anticipated, a turf war was engaged in the morning when a patch of land belonging to what used to be Apokolips appeared at the heart of Villainapolis. As usual, the lead gang leaders for this patch of land brought in their wild cards,'" Beatrice read out loud. "'The daughter of Blackfire chose as a wild card her honorary slash temporary member Audrey the Queen of Mean, the newest all-star of Villainapolis who not only got everyone's adoration in a matter of hours but somehow incited a massive rivalry between herself and the insane Kory Lokisdottir. Hellish and semi-divine forces nearly ripped apart the turf when both wild cards fought against each other until the Queen of Mean found the deed to Apokolips. A strange twist of events: unlike the typical temporary deeds which are usually fought over at every annual turf, the Apokolips deed is actually permanent to the first person who grabs it, supernaturally announcing Audrey the Queen of Mean as its permanent rightful owner along with the accompanied armies. In a stranger twist, the deed revealed that due to an arrangement…'" Beatrice tapped on the words to have them bold up and pop off the paper, nearly screaming at Penna's face. "'… by Lady De Mort herself, the ownership of the turf will be even split following the Queen of Mean's marriage to Alastor the Radio Demon. What a shock! A first-time evil all-star from the land of morons betrothed to probably the most…' And I'm gonna stop there. The rest of the article is mostly male hysteria.'"
"So, if it would be in your best interests, I was hoping you would tear apart that silly paperwork of yours so I can mostly worry about how to have my contract with my client agreed upon rather," Alastor patiently said.
"What, the brat's not good enough for you?" Hades nearly laughed.
"Speaking of spoiled brats, my manifestation missed out on ripping off an arm off your own brat." Alastor gave Mal a menacing sneer. "I wonder how my shrimp Creole would taste if I replace the shrimp with your spleen and added a double seasoning of fairy-pagan god blood with hot pepper sauce…"
"Don't you dare." Hades' hair started flaming up. Beatrice suddenly turned into a black-and-white striped fireman and phased her hands into hoses that shot water geysers at the pagan god. Hades went flying across the castle.
"DAD!" Mal exclaimed.
"Alastor, I swear on the River Styx that I would tear apart that curse right on the spot if I could!" Penna begged. "But I can't. I have a no loophole and destruction for curses! I swear, shipping the girl with an overlord wasn't even first on my list! You would have done the same thing if King Stefan had targeted Beatrice!"
"No." Alastor smiled and shook his head. "If it had been my way, there would have been blood. Several fools have thought they could play violent with my precious, but I played with them with blood, carnage, and a side dish of jambalaya. You know how I do not usually add cannibalism to my fancy meals unless someone hits my anger or distaste buttons. And if the sinners are in Hell, I make their eternal afterlife a torturing entertainment… that satisfies me. You are fortunate that I have enough decent respect for the work of a witch like yourself to not kill you. You have angered me, but we cannot always have what we want."
"T… Thanks…" Penna sighed. "For the record, there's no date for this thing, so don't feel rushed!"
"With the demon time he's still waiting to discuss the contract with Audrey, I'm sure he can survive ten times that with your stupid curse," Beatrice snorted. Penna gave her a grimace that could have killed someone until Alastor gestured his finger in a chiding fashion.
"I'm sure you two better be off. I have… some business to take care off with these Auradonian philanderers."
"Of course! Well, have a good day!" Penna snapped her fingers. Teal-colored smoke surrounded her and Marius Bogfae and the two disappeared in a cloud of sparkles. Alastor tapped his fingers eagerly on the chair's armrest, his sharp fingertips scratching the velvet cushion.
"Since they left, I believe we can have a lovely conversation on how much pain and torture you will go through!" Alastor's smile widened viciously. "Any suggestions, my precious Beatrice?"
"Shoving them into a sandworm pit sounds too easy," Beatrice pondered. "Maybe chain them on the roofs and have eagles peck their livers off every day? No, too Greek! Rip off their skins, sew them into book jackets, and sell it in Witchachusetts?"
"No, that would be too barbaric."
"TOO BARBARIC?" Beast exclaimed and waved at the corpse-covered floor. "You vandalized and destroyed Auradon, you mass-murdered and devoured my neighbors' staff, and you encouraged Audrey into evil!"
"I encouraged her into evil? Moi?" It shocked some when he said that last word with fluent French. "I did not even lift my finger after she summoned me! I just sat back and watched the show until that, ah, narrow encounter with death. It was only after that drastic affair that I sent my manifestation to guard her." He then suddenly appeared right in front of Beast and poked him on the nose. "But the bloodhounds of Corona? That was the last straw."
"What, you got a thing against dogs?" Dude should have shut up. Alastor hissed and snapped his fingers, trapping Dude in a metal cage that his shadow tossed out a window.
"THAT WAS MY BEST FRIEND'S DOG!" Jay charged at Alastor, who merely moved across the room, leading Jay to crash onto Beast. The demon snapped his fingers; Jay found himself shrinking into a cobra and trapped in a golden cage. The scene worsened when Alastor clenched his fist and tentacles ripped off the fangs of cobra-Jay. Beatrice was sitting on the chair, clapping her pale hands eagerly. The gleeful expression was just as terrifying as Alastor's plastered smile.
"Your best friend? You couldn't even figure out what happened to him and you let the people blame my queen!" Alastor laughed. "She discovered on her own that Kory Lokisdottir poisoned him because she thought that toying with my Queen would be amusing! Oh, watching my Queen destroy that perverted demigoddess will be far more entertaining than seeing Carlos De Vil in Hell."
"You've seen Carlos… in Hell?" Ben asked.
"Well, duh. Where do you think sinners go?" Beatrice rolled her eyes. "Nice guy, though. Godfather doesn't like him, though."
"Precious, I only dislike his demon form. Not his personality."
"Considering your background, that's rather hypocritical."
"That can't be… Carlos was too sweet. He was good!" Ben protested.
"Let me think, my chap. Countless reckless behavior on the Isle, breaking into a museum, lying on the phone, taking part in a failed take-over-the-world scheme, disrespect to his mother, resorting to enchanted gummies to ask a girl out until the dog ate the candy, went to the Isle without permission, forged a copy of a fairy's wand, assaulted some pirates, missed his girlfriend's birthday party, failed to chain his motorcycle, tackled some enchanted nights, failed to impress his mother with his girlfriend and goal ambitions, and finally, could not tell when a demigoddess worsened his epilepsy with an enchanted poison." Alastor made the list. "The Fallen Angel found his judgement pure irony. His own offspring created a project similar to yours, redeeming demons to go to heaven. It partially worked… and then your father suggested that redeeming them to regain their humanity would be a second chance to restart alive, with a second chance to learn from past mistakes and move forward!"
"Until the lousy timeshare on the Isle," Beatrice pointed out, "and self-imposed exile."
"It is one thing when his own offspring believes that inside every demon is a rainbow. It is another when some mortal king tricks the offspring of the Fallen Angel because he thinks he's above breaking nature's order of good and evil. So yes, give the Fallen Angel a reason to see the poor boy's fall as karmic punishment on the living…" Alastor's smile widened. He snapped his fingers, reverting those he had attacked back to their natural states, though too dizzy to fight back. The demon held out his hand, summoning shadows to solidify into a cane with a red microphone headpiece that he pointed at Aurora, Philip, Queen Leah, and King Hubert.
"I have no interest in marrying your daughter and I can easily delay what can be avoided. I would rather re-witness my death than be associated with selfish royalty like yourself. But I admire the chaotic potential in her and I would prefer to pass a contract with her than have death make her my slave. So know this! The contract will provide her with my protection from Voldemort's return. Penna De Mort will see that you all lied when she kills either Maleficent or her offspring, and it will be too late for Auradon when the Dark Lord destroys everything! And when he is done destroying all of Auradon and the Isle, I will rip him apart myself and laugh when I look at the destruction of your pathetic excuse of harmony while my Queen has her happy ending on the side where she truly belongs!"
Alastor snapped his fingers. The fireplace suddenly widened and transformed into a massive stone stag skull, its toothed mouth opening and the fire in it turning into a neon-colored portal. The shadows scurried out of the dining room, dragging the corpses and the rest of the feast with them into the multicolored vortex. Alastor and Beatrice started making their way to it.
"A great pleasure meeting you all and to never see your faces again!" Alastor stopped and gave them a small bow. "Ah, and Facilier? You still owe my servants a quarter of your debt, but I am feeling generous today."
"Thank you…" Facilier was about to go on some quivering sentence to thank the demon… until Alastor's shadow grabbed Celia by the ankle and started dragging her to the portal.
"DADDY!" Celia exclaimed.
"Not my daughter!" Facilier grabbed Celia's hands and tried to pull her away from the sentient shadow. "Not Celia! You said you were feeling generous!"
"I am. I am being generous by having your offspring take your place. Should any of you pursue any other method to drag my Queen away like that grey-haired demon slayer who fooled De Mort, than the ticket to Hell of Celia Facilier will be a one-way only! Try to resort to any way of challenging me directly or indirectly, than she'll cease to exist in Hell! Good day!"
Alastor merely tilted his head and Beatrice stretched her arm to slap Facilier on the face. Both demon and half-ghost, half-human hybrid laughed as they jumped into the portal. Alastor's shadow snickered itself as it successfully dragged a screaming Celia into the portal, the stag skull shutting its mouth and reverting back into a normal fireplace. Blood still stained the entire room, everyone was speechless, and Facilier fell on his knees, sobbing hysterically since his precious daughter was taken by the master of his former friends on the other side.
"Doctor…" Queen Leah trembled as she reached out to comfort him, only for him to slap her hand away.
"JE VOUS DÉTESTE!" (French for "I hate you!") "À CAUSE DE VOUS ET VOTRE MAUDITE PETITE-FILLE, J'AI PERDU MON ENFANT! TOUT CECI EST VOTRE FAUTE!" (French for: "Because of you and your vile granddaughter, I lost my child! This is all your fault!")
