Chapter 17: Clutches of the Moth Demon
Crystal looks up and is in shock and anxiety to see the demon sinner now standing before her is Angel Dust's boss, Valentino. To Crystal, out of all the demons she has to run into, it has to be him, and especially by herself.
The moth demon stares at her and questions, "I'll ask you again? What brings you here?"
Crystal snaps herself out of her shock and quickly stands up, "I uh, yeah. I was just uh, visiting a friend and I've already visited him during his break. Anyway, I'm already done with my visit, so I better get going and…" and begins to leave.
But the moth demon grabs one of Crystal's wrists in a firm grip. Crystal turns to see the moth demon looking at her with an evil grin on his face.
"Oh really. And your friend wouldn't happen to be Angel Dust. Am I right, Crystal was it?" Valentino questions.
That causes Crystal to gasp in shock on how he could know her name.
Crystal asks, "How did you…"
Crystal then begins to pull her wrist trying to escape his grip, but Valentino's grip is too strong for her to break free.
"Oh, I know a little bit about you, Crystal. Like you're staying at that ridiculous hotel the princess is running, and you've grown quite attached to my little Angel cakes," Valentino says.
He then pulls her towards him and quickly grabs her in his grip. He has his lower and grabs one one of Crystal's lower wrists, and wraps his other lower arm around her waist. Then wraps the opposite upper arm arm of his lower arm around Crystal's shoulders and places his black hand under Crystal's chin and lifts it up for her to face him.
"And the one who cause quite a mess in the warehouse where one of my drug dealers was. Of course, I got where they were going to double cross me so, you saved me some trouble of having them being dealt with myself," Valentino says.
Stunned, Crystal tries to explain herself, "Well, I uh, I didn't mean… I mean… they kind of… kidnapped me, and I kind of… fought back and uh, quickly left… and I…"
Crystal can't think of what to say.
"What's the matter, cat caught your tongue?" Valentino questions with a smirk.
"Well, I uh, listen… I…" Crystal says, struggling to break free from the moth demon's hold, "I really need to get going. My friends are expecting me back at the hotel before it gets too dark and…"
But Valentino holds his grip harder and says, "Oh, I think you should stay. I'm sure you can spare some time, and I would like to get to know the little gem who caught my star whore's attention."
"Um…" Crystal nervously says.
She then calls out, "Uh Angel…"
But before she can get a word out, Valentino covers her mouth, aggressively, leaving her stunned.
"I would rather keep quiet if I were you. You wouldn't want to bother your friend while working, or waste any more of my time," Valentino says.
Crystal begins to feel frightened by how aggressive Valentino is. Then again, she remembers the abuse that Valentino has given to Angel even though he works here.
Crystal reluctantly nods her head, making Valentino remove his hand from her mouth and places it on her cheek.
He gently rubs it and says, "Good. Now then, perhaps you don't mind accompanying me to my office. We have a few things we need to discuss."
Crystal gulps nervously in reply.
Meanwhile at the Hazbin Hotel, Charlie is in the dining room and looks at the clock to see the time.
"Hmm, Crystal has been there for a while," Charlie says.
"I'm sure Crystal will be fine, Charlie. Don't worry Crystal can take care of herself," Lilac says.
"I know, but she said that she'll be back after dropping off dinner for Angel," Charlie says
"Maybe Crystal decided to stay over with Angel during his break?" Niffty suggest.
"I don't think she would, especially with Valentino there. Angel said that he didn't want her to have anything to do with him. Even I think it's not a good idea for her to go to the studio," Vaggie says.
"Oh, I'm sure Crystal wouldn't let herself get involved with him. Maybe Crystal is just running late, or perhaps she is staying with Angel during his break," Charlie quickly says.
But Niffty says, "Or perhaps she's walking down the sidewalk while her head is on Cloud Nine." And let out a giggle.
The others giggle in reply.
"I think you're right. It's easy to see that Crystal likes Angel Dust. I mean, really like him," Lilac says.
"I suppose you're right. I do have to wonder what Crystal is up to," Charlie replies.
I'm sure Crystal will be fine. What kind of trouble can she get into?" Vaggie replies.
Back in the Porn Studio, Crystal has found herself in a difficult predicament. She finds herself stuck in Valentino's office and with him of all demons. She rather be bugged by Alastor than being stuck with Angel's boss. Crystal remains silent as Valentino is dragging the cigarette and blows out red smoke. He has one of his servants pour two glasses of alcohol and they're sitting on a table close by as they both sit on a large, long, pink couch. Crystal has no clue what to say and isn't sure how without saying anything stupid.
"So Crystal, correct?" Valentino questions.
Um yes. Actually my name was called Silver Crystal, but my real name is uh, Crystal. So yeah," Crystal stammers a bit, feeling a bit nervous.
Valentino chuckles, "You seem a bit uneasy."
"Well, I've never met other Overlords since Alastor. I mostly hang out with my friends at the Hotel and such," Crystal says.
"Hmm, I see," Valentino says.
He then takes another drag of his cigarette and blows out red smoke.
Crystal thinks, "Great. I'm so nervous it's hard for me to say anything. And I feel like I'm going to turn white as a sheet."
Just then, the moth demon places his black hand under Crystal's chin and lifts her up to face him. Crystal ends up seeing his hot pink color eyes through the pink heart sunglasses.
"Aren't you a pretty little face? Such unique color hair," Valentino says, and uses his other hand to brush a bit of Crystal's bangs. "And lovely blue eyes."
Crystal blushes a bit and says, "I uh, thank you…"
Before she can get a word out, Valentino blows some of the red smoke directly at her face. Crystal quickly scoots back as she coughs some of the smoke. She ends up breathing into the smoke and some even get into her nostrils. Suddenly, Crystal begins to feel a bit dizzy and a bit drowsy. Crystal then holds her head with one hand to keep her head up.
The moth demon grins and asks, "What's the matter? Feeling okay?
"Just uh… feeling a bit dizzy… I should really be going…" Crystal says, about to get up from her seat.
But before she can react, Valentino grabs the wrists of her upper hand and pulls her towards him, causing her to sit on her lap.
"There's no need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I do like to discuss with you," Valentino says.
Then he places his hand on Crystal's cheek, "You don't mind if you explain to me about your encounter with one of my dealers."
"Well I uh… I just kind of rain into them. Then they dragged me inside and had me restrained. I was able to break out well, fought them, and was able to have most of them restrained with my webs, and that's about it…" Crystal answers.
Of course, she tries to keep in mind to leave Angel's involvement out of the conversation. She worries about getting Angel in trouble if his boss knows about it.
"Hmm, webs you say?" Val questions.
"Um yeah. I can make webs with my uh hands. I know it sounds a bit odd, but I'm kind of handy with it," Crystal says.
Valentino chuckles and says, "Really now? From what I saw it seems you're more than just a little spider," And has Crystal's head placed on the white fur collar.
He rubs the back of her head and asks, "How long have you been in here?"
"I… I don't know… maybe a couple of months…" Crystal answers, starting to feel dazed.
"Really now?" Valentino says.
He then has Crystal laying down on the couch and has Crystal's hands over her head with a firm grip on it. He then uses one of his lower hand places on the right side of Crystal's hip, and the other hand gently rubbing her leg. Crystal heavily breathes and begins to blush a bit. The young spider tries hard to break free of the moth's restraint, but the larger demon has her pinned down and refuses to let go.
Crystal softly says, "Le-let me go… please…"
Valentino leans his head close to Crystal's right side of her neck and shushes her, "Don't worry. I just like to get to know you, about you bringing a friend of Angel Dust."
"I uh, yeah, Angel is my friend, and he has been uh, nice to me, and such…" Crystal says.
"You don't say…" Valentino questions.
Then asks, "Anything else…"
Soon, the smoke begins to get thicker and some of them even coil around parts of Crystal's legs, neck, and the wrists of her lower arms.
"Well, Angel and I have been hanging out together. I uh, we did stay at the same hotel so we're able to hang out much, and with the others. And well, that's about it…" Crystal says, honestly.
Although, she has to wonder why she is being nervous and being so open to him about her life, and with Angel Dust. Unknown to Crystal, Valentino observes Crystal, and is taking an interest in her. He then lifts himself up and sits up. Then pulls Crystal up into a sitting position as well. Of course, he has his hand gritting Crystal's wrist and on her cheek.
"Hmm, how would you feel about having a job at my studio?" Valentino asks with a grin.
Hearing this, Crystal's eyes wide and her cheeks turn red, "Uh, work? You mean… here?"
"Yes. I know a lot of demons who would love to have some 'fun' with a pretty little face like yourself," Valentino says.
Crystal becomes flustered and quickly moves away from Valentino in a panic, "Tha-that is a kind offer sir, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I've already been working with my friend at the hotel where I'm staying. In fact, I'm sure Charlie and the others are wondering where I am and it's actually getting a little late. Anyway sorry for troubling you, but I really need to get going. Maybe we can have tea or something. Bye."
Then Crystal runs out the room and closes the door, leaving Valentino staring at it.
Valentino chuckles and says, "Quite a strange friend Angel Dust made. I'll have a word with him to see if he can tell me more about his friend."
Sometime later, Crystal is able to get back to the hotel and into her room. She has a very exhausting day and decides to lay down in her room. There, she is able to tell Charlie and Vaggie of what happened.
"Valentino asked you what?" Charlie asks, shocked.
"He asked me to work for him, but I calmly told him no and that I already worked at the hotel and quickly left because I know you'll be worried if I'm back any later," Crystal explains.
She sighs and says, "I must sound like a complete chicken."
"Well, I wouldn't say you're a chicken, but it does seem that you were very timid being around Valentino," Charlie says.
"Timid doesn't begin to describe how I feel about him. I'm usually more confident while talking to others, but Valentino sure is different to talk to," Crystal says.
"You have no idea. Just be glad that you were able to get away from him. You do not want to get involved with him at all," Vaggie says.
"But it might be kind of difficult for you since you met up with him," Charlie says.
"What do you mean?" Crystal asks, concerned.
"Well… Valentino is usually the type who won't take no for an answer, and if there's something he wants, he plans on getting it no matter what. But, we're glad you were able to deal with the situation and hope that Valentino gets the message," Charlie says.
Vaggie sighs, "Somehow I don't think he'll let this go."
Crystal groans and lies down on the bed. Sapphire walks on the bed close to Crystal's head and licks her on the cheek.
The young spider demon smiles and says, "Thanks girl."
"Well, I think you should get some rest. From what you explain, you had a rough experience at the Porn Studio and I'm sure Angel will have a field day if he hears what happened," Charlie says.
"Yeah. I think it's a good idea. See you girls in the morning," Crystal says.
"Night Crystal," Vaggie says.
"Good night," Charlie replies.
With that, Charlie and Vaggie leave the room and close the door. Crystal groans as she lays down in bed. She really doesn't want to deal with Angel's anytime soon, or ever for that matter. Crystal covers herself with the covers and decides to get some sleep. Sapphire makes herself comfortable and sleeps next to her. She hopes a good night's sleep can take her mind off of that experience.
