"Are you sure you'll be okay while we're at the hospital?" A one Helena Harper asked her daughter over the phone, concern in her voice.

Vanessa gave a small roll of her eyes out of habit, holding the phone between her head and her shoulder as she stirred the ramen she was currently making. Her mother, always the worry-wart.

"I'll be fine, Mom!" Vanessa assured her mother with a laugh as she sat the bowl down once she finished stirring and switched the phone to her other ear. "Make sure Ray's gonna be okay, and let me know when you know something, okay?"

"Are you sure you don't want any company?" Helena pressed. "We could call Betty next door, or maybe one of your friends?"

"Mom, I'll be fine." Though most teenagers would probably be irritated at the nature of such worry, Vanessa was only amused. Despite being overprotective at times, Helena and Richard Harper both let their daughter have her freedom. "I doubt you'll even be gone that long. Maybe a night, at most, if it is an injury instead of sickness."

Her little brother, Raymond, had been complaining about stomach pains for the past week, and he had to be taken out of school for a hospital trip when he abruptly started crying, proving that the medicine he'd been given hadn't been doing much.

"Well… just be careful, alright?"

"Mom, I'm at home." Vanessa giggled. "What do I have to be careful of? I'll lock the doors and windows, don't worry."

"Well… okay… oh, sorry, honey! I gotta go, Vanessa, but I'll call you later, alright? I love you!"

"I love you too, Mom." Vanessa replied with a soft smile, before ending the call and setting the phone back down onto the table as she went back to her bowl of ramen.

It wasn't often that Vanessa got the apartment to herself, but she was most certainly going to make the most of it.

Making her way into the living room, she plopped down on the couch, careful not to jostle her bowl too much and spill her food as she picked up the remote and switched on the TV. Once settling on a show, Spongebob Squarepants (Yes, she was still a child at heart), she began eating as she watched her show.

The quiet was a nice change, and while she'd much rather prefer to be occupying her time in a book, preferably the final Harry Potter book if she could ever get her hands on it, she wasn't going to run the risk of sullying any book with food splatter.

Time passed by, and she finished her food long before the two episodes of Spongebob were over, and simply hummed to herself, taking the time to think over events of the past few days.

School wasn't that bad. Sure, there was an occasional bully, Dwight Pierce came to mind, but assuming teachers didn't come to aid, well…

For a Portsmouth School, Portsmouth West sure had a lot of good people in it.

She tended to keep her grades up, barely ever falling below a B in any class, with the exception of Gym, but she still managed to keep that one as a C. And ever since Mr. Ralstin had been bumped up from science teacher to Vice Principal, it seemed a lot of students were more than happy with the school's head staff.

Her best friend, Anita, had managed to finally snag a girlfriend, a young teen by the name of Shiela, who was one of the more open superhumans, a rarity in modern times.

Although, her abilities weren't anything destructive, per say.

Shiela was blind, but to make up for it, she had a sort of… sonar sight. Echolocation, something of that nature. Basically, she could see soundwaves bouncing off of things, and though her hearing was sharper because of it, you'd never be able to tell that she was blind, because her eyes didn't hold the cloudy haze that some blind people had.

Not to mention she was practically a gym class master.

Though, Anita and Shiela's relationship could create some… embarrassing moments, not for them, but for Vanessa.

Ever since middle school, Vanessa had found herself developing a crush on James Guthrie. Of course, just her luck that Shiela was James' younger sister, and the two relentlessly teased her about said crush, and at times, would encourage her to simply ask James out on a date.

It wasn't until two days ago that Vanessa had worked up the courage to ask James to the homecoming dance this weekend.

James was a nice guy. A bit big, more than slightly overweight but not really obese. He looked more like an overweight farmboy than anything, and in seventh grade, James had started wearing an old red button up shirt. He'd wash it of course, but every day, he never failed to come to school with it on, even though the shirt was, at the time, a size or two too big for him.

He was always a jokester to his friends, though oftentimes he was quiet, and what he lacked in speed (Because the whole school knew he couldn't run. It wasn't more that he was slow, it was more… well, it was almost as if he didn't know how to run), he more than made up for in strength.

And you know what they say, watch out for the quiet ones.

It didn't take much to anger James, it didn't take much to anger anybody, really, but oftentimes, it took a lot to make him actually lose his temper.

However, his sore spot was his brother.

In spite of her crush on him, Vanessa only knew vague snippets of his family, and what she'd heard from Shiela since she and Anita had gotten together, but the reason James always wore that button up was because it belonged to their older brother, who'd passed away while they were in the seventh grade.

And one of the more callous bullies (Dwight) had decided to strike that nerve in James one day in freshman year.

It pretty much flooded the whole school, how James had literally put Dwight in a headlock and nearly caved his skull in with a fist alone, and though Dwight continued his usual antics, he made sure to avoid James Guthrie and anyone actively associated with him.

It was something Vanessa liked about him, among other things. Oftentimes, she'd been questioned by some of her more shallow friends as to why she was attracted to James, when there were a lot more guys who were far better looking than James.

Vanessa's response was always the same.

"He's nice."

And James had also come to her defense a few times, even before she'd asked him to the dance.

In particular, in regards to one Mike Baldwin.

Mike was the typical jock of school. He was seemingly determined to sleep with as many girls as he could before they graduated, ignoring the fact that it was still a full year and a half before that, and his latest target had been Vanessa herself.

Five times in the last month alone, he asked her to the homecoming dance, and each time, he'd become more and more pushy and aggressive about it. Each time, she'd had to rebuke him. A good few times that he'd asked her, including two of the times this month, James had stepped in and told him off.

Football player or not, Mike did not have the confidence to start a fight with someone who was at least three inches taller and outweighed him by probably eighty pounds.

It was beginning to annoy Vanessa, but outside of the typical rejection, it wasn't something she tended to dwell on.

Hell, with the way gossip would spread around the school, chances are that Mike will finally get the hint when he hears that she'd asked James to the homecoming dance.

Hopefully, anyway.

Vanessa was pulled from her thoughts, however, by the sound of something falling over somewhere else in the apartment.

"What was that?" She muttered to herself as she turned towards the direction it had come from.

It sounded like it had come from her bedroom.

Maybe something had fallen over? The way she would haphazardly stack some of her things, it was very possible something had simply fallen to the floor from the edge of her desk or bookshelf.

With curiosity flooding through her, she stood to her feet, setting the empty bowl she'd been too lazy to take to the sink down on the coffee table as she made her way to her room.

Stopping in the doorway, she could see her door was wide open as she examined her room. It wasn't often she closed her door anyway, so it wasn't really something that jumped to her mind.

It didn't take her long to find the source of the noise. Atop her desk, next to her laptop, was a small, haphazard stack of books, and she could plainly see that one of them was now on the floor.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Vanessa hummed softly to herself. Must've not been able to stay in place any longer. She really needed to tidy up her belongings some time.

She'd never get the chance.

The moment she stepped into her room, she didn't have a full second to register the sound of the door suddenly moving behind her, before a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around her, one coming around her stomach as a hand clamped itself over her mouth.

On instinct, she tried to scream as she found herself lifted off the ground, feet kicking out as pure panic ran through her body at the unexpected and very unwelcome person currently holding her.

And then her blood ran cold as a voice spoke, inches from her ear.

"So, you'll give that fat retard a chance, but not me?" The voice held a tone of anger and hatred, practically seething as the owner of the voice tightened his grip, far too roughly for any sort of comfort.

Vanessa tried to turn her eyes to see her aggressor, which was difficult considering his grip on her mouth held her head in place, but she didn't need to see her attacker. She recognized the voice.

"I'm better than him." Mike Baldwin growled in her ear, and Vanessa could only remain frozen in his grip, eyes wide, complete terror overtaking her as his voice reverberated through her. "I can play football, run a mile in six minutes while that fatty can't even run right. What makes you think he deserves the chance."

Even if Vanessa could answer, she'd probably be too scared to as the implications of the whole situation really dawned on her. Mike hadn't been at school at all today, and now she knew why. And it was just bad luck that her parents weren't home.

He'd actually broken into the apartment and hid in her bedroom, and god only knows what he had planned.

This wasn't her confronting a rather annoying classmate.

This was her being attacked by someone with less than pleasant intentions. And this intruder had almost a full foot on her and was so much stronger than she could hope to be. He probably didn't even feel her hands trying to tug his arm off earlier, nor the grip she still had on it.

"Scream and I swear to god this will be so much worse than you can imagine." Mike said harshly. "Nod if you understand."

Terrified out of her wits, tears budding in her eyes, Vanessa could only nod her head. She was not eager to find out exactly 'what' would be worse.

Seemingly satisfied with her response, the hand finally left her mouth, allowing her to breathe easier, hyperventilating as his arm instead moved to wrap around her throat, though no pressure was applied.

"W-What do you want, Mike?" Vanessa managed to stutter out, her voice a terrified whisper as she slowly turned her head to look up at her attacker as best as she could.

Never before had she ever thought she'd be terrified to look into someone else's eyes.

"Nobody gets first serve before me." Mike replied, his eyes narrowed, full of hatred and another emotion that Vanessa wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer too. "Least of all that retarded hick."

"I-I already told you!" Vanessa couldn't help it when her voice raised, as if that would somehow get him to take the hint. "I d-don't want to go to the dance you!"

The response was more unsettling than she ever would've thought.

He let out a chuckle. One that actually sounded amused.

"You think I'm interested in a school dance?"

At first she was confused. He'd asked her out to the dance so much ever since it was announced. What more could he-

Oh.

Oh god no….

"P-Please…" Vanessa whimpered as the implications struck her, tears freely flowing down her face as she turned to look up at him. "I-I'm not ready for that yet… I-I want it to mean something."

"Oh it will." Mike let a cruel grin cross his face. "To me."

And then he was dragging her towards the bed.

Vanessa did not care any longer about screaming. She didn't care what Mike had in store. She was going to do everything she could to get away.

"NO!" Vanessa shouted at the top of her lungs, kicking, screaming, absolutely thrashing in his grip, trying to hit him, kick him, anything she could to make him lose his grip. She knew what he wanted, and she did not want to be a victim of any such act.

She would do anything she can to get away.

"Quit squirming!" Mike growled, but Vanessa was no longer listening. The larger teen completely ignored Vanessa's pathetic hits, coming from a bad angle with no real power to them, they were more of an annoyance than actually effective. "Shut up!"

"GET OFF ME!" Vanessa shouted, flailing desperately in his grip, which was practically concrete compared to anything she could do. "LET ME GO! SOMEBODY HELP!"

"SHUT UP!" Suddenly, Mike's arms left her as she found herself thrown onto the bed, and she wasted no time in trying to scramble off to the other side, only for a hand to clamp down on her ankle and pull her back.

"GET OFF ME!" Vanessa did her best to kick at both the hand and the owner, while clawing at the bed, hoping to maybe get some sort of grip, some kind of leverage to pull herself away.

She felt the hand leave her ankle, and she tried to take advantage of it to put some distance, only to find herself being pulled again, not by her foot, but by the waistline of her PANTS!

"NO, NO, NO!" Vanessa could only shout. She'd kicked her shoes off at the front door, and she'd opted for a pair of sweatpants today so it was far easier than she would've ever liked for Mike to practically rip her pants down her legs.

For a second, there was nothing tugging at her anymore, allowing her to scramble further across the bed, but she still failed to make it to the other side before she suddenly felt a weight come down on top of her and a pair of hands gripping her hips harshly.

"Come here, you bitch!" Mike growled from behind her as he pulled her back towards him as he too occupied the bed now.

As much as she tried, there was nothing Vanessa could do against him when she found herself flipped onto her back, before she found herself looking up at the larger boy now on top of her.

Mike seemed to completely ignore every attack Vanessa tried, be it punching him, kicking him, even clawing at his face with her fingernails. Instead, he focused on the only thing concealing his prize, pulling at a pair of dark blue panties, literally ripping them off of her.

Even with the air within the apartment being a rather warm temperature, the loss of any article of clothing below the waist felt almost cold and chilly.

And then Mike lowered himself on top of her, allowing his weight to hold her down, one arm pressing down onto her chest and fondling her through her shirt as his opposite hand moved down to his pants.

"NO, PLEASE DON'T!" Vanessa was absolutely hysterical, thrashing uselessly under him as the sound of a belt being undone seemed to echo through the room.

And then she felt something blunt pushing between her legs, to her sacred spot.

"You're mine."

And then there was a sharp pain between her legs as he violently shoved himself inside of her.

And her screams filled the air.

Any and all sort of peace of quiet throughout the Happy Hotel was immediately shattered by the sound of an ear piercing scream from within the building.

Within their bedroom, John's eyes shot wide open as he practically flew up from his lying position, taking a moment to process his sudden awakening and what caused it.

"What the hell was that?!" From next to him, Verosika shot up into an upright position, her eyes wide and panicked at the sound as she looked up at her boyfriend.

"That sounded like Vanessa." John responded quickly, before almost immediately throwing himself from his bed. He found himself thankful that he and Verosika had opted for nightwear over a night of passion, so a pair of faded sleeping shorts and black torn muscle shirt were thankfully present on his person.

Not that he was particularly focused on that.

The door to their bedroom was pretty much ripped from the frame as the spikey demon barreled his way down the hall, ignoring doors to the rest of the staff's bedroom opening and sounds of confusion and alarm as his bare feet carried him across the floor with a quickness that belied his size.

He didn't know why Vanessa was screaming, he just knew that something was wrong, and his worry was the only thing driving him at the moment.

Coming up to the staircase, John decided to forgo the stairs completely, putting a foot on the very first step before planting his hand onto the guardrail and hopping over it.

At nine feet and well over a ton, John's landing pretty much splintered the floor around his feet, and it was a wonder that he hadn't crashed through the wood and to the first floor below.

There were other occupants leaving there rooms, and he could already see two of them at Angel and Vanessa's door, tugging at it in an attempt to open it.

With the sounds his feet made with each footstep, any hotel guest in his way quickly cleared a path for the Juggernaut as he came sprinting down the hall, slowing quickly but not stopping as his pace shifted into a brisk walk.

"Move!" He ordered quickly, and the two demons, a cat sinner and tiger sinner, both moved away from door as John approached it.

Property damage costs was easily the last thing on John's mind as he slammed the side of his fist into the door, leaving it only attached limply by a piece of mangled metal and shattering the frame completely as he took a step inside.

"Ness, wake up!" Angel was at Vanessa's bedside, trying his damndest to wake the succubus sinner, who was absolutely sobbing in her sleep, unconsciously struggling against her friend.

Angel was suddenly thrown away from the bed when Vanessa's tail suddenly lashed out from under the covers, and the spider-demon let out a shout of pain, stumbling away as the surprisingly sharp appendage tore his shirt open and left a small gash on his chest.

John could hear the sounds of the rest of the Hotel staff gunning it down the hall and approaching the room quickly, but the behemoth paid it no mind as he moved towards Vanessa's bed at a quick pace.

She needed to wake up, and John knew exactly how to do that.

His large hands practically engulfed her shoulder, and he hovered himself over her as his mouth opened.

"VANESSA!"

The sound of his voice was distorted, deeper than normal, almost inhuman yet audible at once, and any louder and he'd have probably ruptured every eardrum in the Hotel.

Nonetheless, the roar of her name did the trick.

Vanessa's eyes shot open with a gasp as she quickly stilled, breathing heavily as John took in her tear stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes.

John could hear people at the door, watching with curiosity and concern, but too scared to enter, and he could also hear the sounds of Charlie and Vaggie forcing their way through the crowd with urgency.

Vanessa's entire form was tense, fearful… terrified.

Slowly, John let his grip go as his hands left her shoulders, and he stared down at her as she slowly sat up, looking around, taking in her location as she processed where she was.

"You okay?" John was only now aware of his own panting, worrying for the poor teen on the bed in front of him driving his every action.

"I-I…" It was like she was too shocked to speak, too stunned, as she took on all of the worried eyes focused on her.

Charlie finally managed to push her way to the door, completely ignoring the destroyed frame as her worried gaze trained itself on every occupant in the room, with Vaggie and the rest of the Hotel staff, plus Verosika, literally right behind her.

"What happened?" Charlie asked, concern in her tone as she looked to any of them for an explanation.

"I-I… I-It was a n-nightmare…" Vanessa's tears had stalled, but not stopped, and her lip began quivering, her eyes watering up once more as she realized that she'd effectively woken up and worried everyone in the Hotel. "I'm sorry…" She looked absolutely petrified, nothing like the sassy and outgoing girl she'd been showing herself to be recently.

"Aw, you ain't got nothing to apologize for." John said, looking down at Vanessa softly as he took a sit on her bed, the frame groaning slightly as the bed dipped, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"I would say an audience is not exactly appropriate for a moment, hmm?" Alastor's voice could be heard as he glanced around at the Hotel guests, and though his voice sounded as it's usual cocky and amusing self, there was a hint of a thinly veiled threat to it as his face hardened, his smile growing a little more forced and malicious. "Back to your rooms."

In spite of this being the Radio Demon, the guests hesitated for a second before slowly making their way back to their rooms, though it was clear that none of them were eager to leave just yet.

In spite of his bleeding chest, Angel managed to drag himself to his feet as he looked at Vanessa in concern, wasting no time in approaching her once more until he was standing next to her bedside, eyeing her in concern. "You alright?"

"I'm sorry." In spite of John's reassurances, Vanessa couldn't help the guilt and shame at waking everyone, and her voice was a high pitched whimper as she looked at her best friend. In particular, she was eyeing the cut on Angel's chest, the subtle bleeding matting his fur a little. "Did I do that?"

In spite of his injury, Angel let a small smile grace his face as he shook his head. "Ah, don't worry about it, kid. Just a flesh wound. I'll be right as rain in no time." Right now, the last thing on his mind was the stinging pain in his chest.

John turned his attention to Angel for a moment. "I can heal that for you."

"Later." Angel dismissed the offer for a moment as he kept his soft gaze trained on Vanessa. "Another bad dream, huh?"

"I-It was-"

"You don't have to explain it, Ness." John interrupted softly, pulling the shaking teen into his side and allowing her to hug him, paying no mind to the rather awkward positioning.

"I-I-I didn't m-mean to wake everyo-o-one." Vanessa stuttered, turning to look at them through her tearfilled eyes.

Husk's voice was unusually soft, lacking its typical gruffness as the older sinner stepped further into the room. "Ah, you ain't gotta be sorry, kid." He assured as he too looked at her in concern. "We just want to make sure you'll be alright."

"Uh…" John decided that maybe lightening the mood might assure her, cheer Vanessa up a little, so he allowed his gaze to move towards the destroyed doorway as the hand that wasn't currently hugging the succubus sinner came to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, about the door."

"S'okay…" Vanessa mumbled, trying to keep her eyes averted, too embarrassed and ashamed to really try and bring her gaze to meet anyone else's. "Sorry for worrying you…"

John couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him as he let a reassuring smile make its way onto his face as he turned to look down at the teen sinner tucked into his side. "Quit apologizing." He said in a joking tone, hoping to distract her.

"But-"

"Nope, nada, you heard him." Angel suddenly interjected, grinning as he caught onto John's plan and concealed his worry as best as he could, waving his free hand back and forth as he silenced her. "You sound like a broken record, kid."

"She sounds like that guy from Wanted." Of all people, it was Vaggie who caught on next, and a small smile was on her face as she too allowed herself to eye the teen in amusement, hiding her own concern. "I'm soooorrryyyy." She repeated a line from said film, causing some chuckles to echo through the room as Vanessa looked at everyone.

She allowed herself to finally crack a smile, and she let go of John as she tried to wipe up her tears with the sleeves of her pajama shirt. "Well, I am." She managed to speak, quietly but audible.

"So we've heard." Alastor responded with a genuinely amused grin on his face.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Charlie asked, concern in her tone as she looked at the succubus sinner.

Vanessa eyed the princess for a moment, before slowly nodding her head. "I'll be okay." Her voice wavered slightly, but she did her best to sound assuring.

Although, admittedly, she wasn't sure if she believed it herself.

Since John had essentially rendered the door to their room unusable at the moment, Charlie had moved Vanessa and Angel to another room. Though they were technically guests, John had managed to talk Charlie into giving them a Master Suite room, since it was technically his fault.

Though… their had been a bit of a roadblock at first, considering the fact that Master Suite rooms were meant for the staff, and usually only had one king sized bed held within. But after some not so blunt words from John, they decided that the bed was big enough that they could split it.

"Ain't nothing wrong with sharing a bed as long as you both got a place to sleep."

Those had been John's words from earlier, which was something that seemed to be echoed by Angel. Admittedly, Vanessa was more than hesitant, but nonetheless, she eventually gave into the idea.

Angel had been forced to change his shirt, however, since it had been ripped when her tail had lashed out at him.

Charlie had insisted that Angel at least get his wound checked, since many succubi had poison within their tails as a defense mechanism, but John had assured them as he healed the wound that if Vanessa had actually poisoned Angel, he'd have already been gone.

It doesn't work as a defense mechanism if the attacker still gets what they want.

Still, Vanessa couldn't help the apology that left her lips once more. "I'm sorry for cutting you, Angel."

The spider demon let out an amused chuckle as he sat a hairbrush down onto the nightstand, before turning around and looking at Vanessa with a smile.

"Kid, I told you, it's fine." He assured her with an amused shake of his head. "It's not like you were trying to hurt me, and I ain't gonna bite your head off over it."

In spite of his reassurances, Vanessa couldn't help the guilt that ate at her. "I didn't mean to cut you with it."

"I know, Ness." Angel assured the succubus as he left the nightstand, moving towards the bed with a smile as he climbed into it. "I'm not mad at you, and like I said, you weren't trying to hurt me."

"Are you sure your okay?" Vanessa asked once more, glancing towards the former porn star.

"I should be asking you that, Ness." Angel retorted as he settled himself on the bed, looking at the teen who was currently tucked into herself next to him. "You haven't been having nightmares since our trip to Lu Lu World. Especially not one this bad."

"It felt so real." Vanessa admitted, tears budding in her eyes as the events that lead to her death were clear in her mind, wounds opened anew once more. "It was so much worse than the other nightmares. It was like I was actually reliving it again." She visibly shuddered as she spoke, before pressing her face into her arms as she tugged her knees to her chest. "It was horrible…"

Angel looked at Vanessa with a sympathetic gaze, and raised an arm, resting it gently on her back as he rubbed soothing circles along the teen as hushed sobs escaped her. "It's okay, kid." Angel assured as he wrapped an arm around the succubus, pulling her into his side. "Ain't no one here gonna hurt you, kiddo."

"Why can't I just forget about it?" Vanessa whimpered as she gladly leaned into Angel's side, hugging the spider-demon closer to her for any sort of comfort her friend might provide. "I just want to get over it, pretend it never happened. I can't even think about my family without it leading back to that."

Angel wished he had some sort of words of encouragement for her, he really did. But the truth was, he was still dealing with his own traumas, and that included more than sixty years of working with Valentino. As much as he'd wished otherwise, he was nowhere near in the position to provide advice on PTSD to the poor girl.

So, he stuck with the truth.

"I already told you, I don't think you'll ever forget it." Angel said with a sigh as he allowed his gaze to drift off. "Instead, you gotta work past it. Find ways to cope."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Vanessa's voice was a high-pitched whimper as the tears had long since come loose, soaking the shirt that Angel had just changed into, though he ignored it. "How am I supposed to cope when just thinking about it sends me into a breakdown?"

"You tell me." Angel said, giving a small smile as he ran a hand through the succubus's hair in a comforting gesture. "Ness, I've known for a little over a month, and I've never seen you as happy as you have been these past couple of days." He commented, causing Vanessa to finally bring her gaze up to his own. "Sure, there was that one time when we were watching a movie, but how many other times has it been on your mind?"

Almost immediately, Vanessa opened her mouth to answer. However, no sound left her mouth, because the answer wasn't something she could think of right off hand. As she tried to think of the correct response, she realized… Angel was right.

Outside of that one time when she was watching The Incredible Hulk with Angel, she hadn't broken down once. Not with those times with Alastor, not even by herself when she'd read a book. In fact, the last few days, she'd felt more like her old self than she ever had when she was under Valentino's thumb.

With Valentino… well, it was no exaggeration to call her someone scared of her own shadow. The lingering thought that she'd be offered to somebody to use as a pleasure toy, with no regard for her own thoughts on the matter, had her terrified to talk to just about anyone. Accompany that with the very reason of why she was in Hell, and she was pretty much seeking comfort in Angel's presence just about every night they'd been stuck at Valentino's studio.

Angel had been a highlight. He was nice, he was goofy, maybe a bit of an oddball, and sure, he could have a potty mouth from hell… but he was always there to talk, or even just hug and cry to. He had never judged her, not from her actions, not from her demon species, not for her choices… with Angel, there was no such thing as judgment.

Hell, at the Hotel, there was no such thing as judgment, apparently. Alastor was a cannibalistic serial killer, and yet everyone treated him like a regular, if quirky, guy. Even Vaggie, who clearly had no love for the radio host, was civil with him more often than not.

None of the hotel guests were ever judged for their actions, their former occupation, you name it. So long as they followed rules and actually tried this whole redemption thing, they'd always have a place to live, something they were thankful for. Outside of some applications that they were required to fill out, nothing was ever mentioned of any past misdeeds.

Something that even Vanessa was thankful for. Otherwise, Angel nor Alastor might not be here.

Both Angel and Alastor had worked there way into her heart, you could say. Not in a romantic sense, god no, both of them were over sixty years her senior, not to mention that Angel was gay and Alastor acted more as a father figure, a friend, than a partner.

All of them had been friends, in a sense. John was like an older brother, at least, he's what she thought an older brother would be like. He'd tease her, he'd watch movies with her, he wouldn't say a word if she were to snag some of his food… hell, this morning, John was the first one at their room when she screamed, if what Angel said was to be believed. Took the door down, more concerned for her than anything else.

She appreciated it. A lot. Though she hadn't interacted with John as much as she had Alastor and Angel, John had probably done more to try and help her than either of them. It helped that he was closer to her age, being only four years older than she was.

Sometimes… it completely skipped her mind that Hell is supposed to be a horrible place, full of sin and evil, when she had people like John, Angel, Charlie, even Alastor to an extent. Hell, outside of Charlie, they'd all done something to end up in Hell as well.

John had killed someone, Alastor was a serial killer, and Angel was in the mob. She didn't know what Vaggie did to end up down here, nor Husk or Niffty, but none of them really seemed… evil, per say.

All in all… she was happy at the Hotel. Around everyone. And they kept her distracted from her trauma by just… being there for her.

So, she didn't really have a proper answer to Angel's question.

Something the spider-demon noted. "Uh-huh, that's what I thought." He teased with a grin, causing Vanessa to smile up at him.

"I guess you're right." She said, sitting up off of her friend as she tried to wipe her eyes. "Outside of the movie, I've been so distracted." She admitted as she turned to look at Angel with a grateful gaze. "I've never even really thought about it."

"Maybe that's how you cope." Angel replied with a smile. "Having people there for you, being able to act like yourself." He remarked as he too sat up, looking down at Vanessa with a soft gaze. "You ain't gotta be worried about ever going through something like that again, especially here. You got people looking out for you, letting you act like the kid you are."

"I block it out?" Vanessa suggested, looking up at Angel with a hopeful gaze.

The spider-demon let out a chuckle. "If you want to put it that way, yeah." He said with a nod. "Now, I don't know about you, but it is three in the morning, and I'd like to get my beauty sleep."

Vanessa blushed in embarrassment as she realized that she'd kept Angel awake. "I'm sor-"

"Finish that sentence and you can sleep with John." Angel interrupted as he laid himself on his bed. His tone was one of a good natured joke, and Vanessa doubted that he was actually being serious, but still.

She allowed herself to lay down on the bed, pretty much tucking herself into the covers as she did so as she rolled onto her side, facing the wall opposite of Angel as the spider-demon turned off the lamp on the nightstand.

"Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks… "

"No problem, kid. Get yourself some sleep."