"Psst psst psst," Charlie whispered in Vaggie's ear once she saw Alastor enter the foyer of the hotel, twirling his radio cane as he did so. They were sitting in the conversation pit having a, well, conversation. Charlie furtively looked over at Alastor. Nope, he didn't notice. Drat.

"Charlie, why are you saying 'psst' in my ear?" Vaggie asked, giving her a weird look.

Charlie stiffened, hoping that Alastor hadn't heard that.

He was looking over at them with amusement. His steps changed from heading to the front door to coming over to them. Crap.

"Hello, my dears!" he cheerily said. "I heard you trying to catch my ear. What does my lovely bride want with her dear groom?"

"Welllllll…" Charlie made motions with her hands. "I was just thinking, we keep going up to your tower for dinner. I was hoping that, maybe…we could go out to eat? At a restaurant? Not because your tower isn't great! I wanted to have a nice dinner tonight where no one had to cook anything. I'm sure you don't have an unlimited supply of pineapple."

Alastor didn't move or blink, but there was a look in his eyes that said it wasn't in his plan for the day. Vaggie shook her head; she'd said it was a bad idea. Alastor was playing a game, she'd said. He wouldn't want pieces going off and taking any initiatives. Charlie understood that he liked being in control. It was necessary to push some boundaries! Little by little, she would prove herself worthy of being trusted with his inner self.

"I had other plans," Alastor said coolly.

"I'm not saying right now!" Charlie rushed. "I meant tonight!"

"I already took care of reservations," Vaggie said, unenthused.

Alastor's smile changed to being more tense. "Why?"

"What, having two hot women on your arm isn't enough?" Vaggie teased. Charlie's breath was taken for a moment before her eyes flashed with joy. Progress!

"Hahaha! No ." Alastor was looking to Charlie to answer his question.

"I, uhm," Charlie stuttered for a moment. "I just wanted to get us out in the public! To get them used to us all being by each others' sides. After all," she shrugged, "it'll be hard to wield the extra political power if you aren't shown showing it off."

That thought caught his attention. He seemed to be genuinely thinking now. Tapping his cane against his chin, he murmured, "That does sound like a wise idea." He twirled his cane before tapping it on the floor. A wide smile was followed by, "That's logic I can't argue with! I'm impressed!"

Charlie brightened considerably. "Thank you!"

"What level of dress shall I wear?" Alastor wondered out loud.

Vaggie said, "Something really nice. Black tie only."

Alastor laughed. "My my! Really breaking out onto the scene with some flair, aren't we?"

"You know us: go big or go home," Vaggie noted.

"Indeed!" He looked at a pocketwatch, a gift from Charlie two years prior. "What time shall we go?"

"7pm," Charlie said proudly.

"Which timezone?" Alastor laughed at that. Charlie didn't get it. Alastor waved a hand. "Old mortal joke." His gaze traveled back to his watch. "I think I can make that work." He closed the watch and tucked it back into his pocket. "If I am to make our little dinner date, I'll have to get going! I'll see you two here at 7pm sharp!"

Laughing, he melted into his shadow. Charlie giggled; she'd found that he did that whenever he wanted to leave a conversation, normally one that he was desperate to break from. That meant that this date completely threw him for a loop! Knocking him off-kilter might help with breaking through.

"Mission accomplished, I guess." Vaggie stood and stretched. "Oof. We waited too long for him to show up. I need a massage."

"I can give you one!" Vaggie looked down at Charlie. Charlie continued, "You've earned it! I saw how you let your guard down for a moment. Teasing him like that!"

Vaggie rolled her eyes and waved around the room. "There are too many witnesses for him to do anything. The public would have a cow if he killed his own brides."

Now that Vaggie said it, Charlie realized that she was right. Might not be the progress she was hoping it would be.

"C'mon." Vaggie helped Charlie get out of the pit. "I'm holding you to your offer."

"I can try out that new lotion I got!" Charlie said excitedly.

Vaggie smiled. "Yes, you can."

Charlie was doing her best to hold down her excitement. They were going out on their first outside date in years . Vaggie wasn't one for going out to eat much. She preferred to cook their own food.

So! EXCITEMENT! SO MUCH OF IT!

Except, again, choosing clothes. They'd already gone through all of Vaggie's nicer clothes. No surprises for Alastor with her clothes. Charlie, however…

She reached for the ballgown.

" No ."

Charlie turned to Vaggie. "Awww, why not?"

"You wanted to make Alastor the star of the show, right? That definitely won't happen if you use that pile of poof and sugar blossoms," Vaggie explained.

Charlie snapped her fingers. Vaggie was right. The only reason that Alastor revealed for going was to flash off his power and privilege. He couldn't do that if Charlie made herself the main star.

"How about this?" Vaggie pulled out one of Charlie's plainer outfits.

"What? No!" Charlie pointed at it. "We don't want to steal the show, but we also don't want to underplay ourselves. Remember, we're POWERFUL. The tip-top tier of Hell! That's what we're playing to."

"True." Vaggie put it back. While Vaggie dug in Charlie's closet, Charlie went and started her own venture into Vaggie's closet. She couldn't quite remember which outfit she had been thinking of this morning. It was in here somewhere!

"Ah-HA!" they both simultaneously said as dresses were pulled from the abyss that was their closets. They looked at each other, then held up the dresses they had.

They both smiled.

They both made their way from their room in the penthouse at the top of the hotel. Charlie knew they looked sexy as hell. That wouldn't really affect Alastor. It was the public they were dressing up for. To make Alastor look damn good.

Normally, Charlie was nervous and didn't really think of herself in terms of 'sexy' and 'beautiful'. For this outfit, she knew she was both. The one time she wore it in front of her dad, he'd freaked out and tried to cover her up with his jacket. Then the crowd wouldn't stop hitting on her. It was a really bad birthday.

That sort of reaction was the aim this time! Alastor would look great …!

They got to the stairs to the foyer and did a quick check of each other.

"You sure you want to wear this dress?" Vaggie asked for the fifth time.

"Yes!" Charlie giggled. "This is definitely a good idea!"

Vaggie pulled her close and gave her a solid kiss on the lips. They held each other for a few moments before they made their appearance.

They made it to the top of the stairs when people started noticing them. Most had been looking at the entrance of the hotel at something. Now they were looking at Charlie and Vaggie.

Who could blame them? Charlie was in a sleek champagne mermaid-style dress. It was embroidered with bits of Angelic metals, a large dip in the front going between her breasts down a good several inches. Thin spaghetti straps held it up, helping to support the large slit on the left side that went all the way up to her hip. She wore matching clip-on earrings, gloves, and purse.

Vaggie's outfit wasn't as loud. She was wearing a purple dress covered in ruffles. There was a singular sleeve on her right side while the other arm was completely bare all the way up. She put in a different bow and had painted her fingernails purple.

They both wore the same black flats. Charlie hoped they could get away with having less-fancy footwear. She was definitely going to commission some footwear!

The many slack jaws as they descended the stairs simply made Charlie smile slightly embarrassed. It was hard to keep up the mask of influence when you really, really felt like an average Joe.

Vaggie squeezed her hand. Charlie spared a glance at her. The warmth and reassurance in her gaze made Charlie feel more confident. She could do this!

They didn't even make it all the way down the stairs when they caught sight of Alastor. He was in the outfit from their first dinner date, with the same cane, but with the addition of a long, flowing scarf that fell down his sides and hung lightly on his neck and a top hat that covered up his horns. Charlie had marveled the week before as Alastor showed her that all the cane had microphones in them, mostly hidden in the top of the cane. The same applied to the silver-topped cane he held.

"Glad to see you, my lovely brides!" Alastor said, holding out his hands as they approached. They each took a hand. Alastor pulled them close, kissing each of the hands. Charlie resisted blushing; she knew that it was all for the show. He released their hands and said, "Are you ready for a night on the town?"

"Am I EVER!" Charlie gushed. She grabbed Vaggie's hand and, gripping Alastor's hand tight as well, began dragging the two towards the doors.

Alastor let her drag him out. He asked, "I assume you have transportation ready?"

Charlie looked back at him, smiling. "Of course." She stopped a dozen meters outside the hotel and called out, "Razzle!"

"Oh, arriving by dragon-back? That will be quite the entrance!" Alastor said as Razzle came down from the penthouse and transformed to allow him to carry three passengers.

The three of them got on the dragon's back: Alastor teleported with his shadows, Vaggie used her wings to fly up, and Charlie took the front where Razzle was bowed to let her on the most stable part of his back.

"Let's go, Razzle! You know where!" Charlie had shown Razzle where they were going earlier. They'd wanted to take Alastor by surprise with where they were going. Razzle shot up in the sky and made for the craft district.

"Interesting! I have no idea where we're going!" Alastor sounded strangely breathless with those words.

"Trust us, you'll love it!" Vaggie's words were almost lost to the wind.

Razzle landed heavily in the street in front of Chez Couteaux. It was an exclusive Earth "French" style restaurant. Out front there were several Hellhounds on security duty and a long line of people merely hoping to get a seat in the next month. There was also a member of staff whose job was to check reservations and ensure black tie policy was in place.

The rather tall imp with zig-zag curved horns looked up, obviously distracted. "What is the name on the reser-" He cut himself off as he observed Razzle shrinking down to fun size and Alastor approaching with Charlie on his left arm and Vaggie on his right. Charlie and Vaggie had practiced this. Vaggie was against showing Alastor as having the power. Said it would degrade Charlie's status. But what did Charlie really care about status? The few times she'd tried to flex it, it only made the situation worse.

Her mom had said she would come into her power. All Charlie felt was the privilege.

The imp recovered fast. He bowed and said, "Please enter, Princess Charlotte and company."

At the same time, both Alastor and Charlie nodded their heads. Vaggie saw and gave a small sigh.

They entered the establishment. Charlie watched for Alastor's reaction. His smile didn't change, though she did catch that his eyes opened slightly wider as he looked around.

From the outside, the restaurant was nothing special. No building in the Pride Ring was of nice build. The only things that differentiated it were the shiny flashing sign and the crowds of people hoping that someone dropped their reservation. The inside was an entirely different story. It was magicked to have a vaulted ceiling above a good fifty feet. It had cool blue tones that decorated everything: the smoothe booths, the old-world tables and chairs from the human world, the pillars that lined the room. Even the plants had shades of blue to them.

All around, demons of all kinds were dressed to the nines. A variety of outfits that matched the top class of Charlie's dress. The way they acted, that was how you could tell if they were common demonfolk or if they were the likes of Overlords or other high-tier demon. Charlie was pretty sure she recognized one particular Overlord, the large neon wolf-woman who made the table she was seated at look kid-sized.

Alastor recovered quickly as the maitre d'hotel led them down the steps to the main part of the restaurant. Most wouldn't have even noticed his pause. He waved at the wolf-woman when she caught sight of them as they passed her by. She gave a guttural laugh in response.

The maitre d'hotel led them to the table right in the middle of the room before he left like a well-oiled machine. Good, just as Vaggie had asked. Alastor asked the two women to stop with a squeeze of his hand. He then pulled out the chairs, Charlie's with his hands and Vaggie's with a shadow tentacle.

"Thank you!" Charlie chirped. Vaggie nodded at him before they both took their seats. Alastor quickly sat as well.

Alastor immediately launched into a lively discussion about the different types of restaurants and cuisine types in the land of the living. He kept it up even through the waiter coming and taking their orders. Charlie was particularly interested in 'Cajun' food; the way Alastor described it, it was the best kind of meals on Earth. She vowed to see if there were any of these types of restaurants around.

"-and one simply can't forget a crawfish boil!" Alastor finished. Charlie could tell he was finished as his eyes ventured across the room. With a look of satisfaction, he said, "Our food's arrival is imminent!" He twirled a finger along the edge of his water glass, having opted to not have wine. "I will admit, I was surprised they had options for cannibals!"

"They accept all types of demon society," Vaggie explained. "That's what makes them so good."

The waiter arrived, balancing their plates along his arms. He set them down in front of each of them. Vaggie had a delicately treated hell hog pork chop, glazed with a plum extract and decorated with drops of blood along the edge of the plate. Charlie had a devil's bush salad with various Earth berries mixed in, drizzled with a strawberry vinaigrette. Alastor had asked for ladyfingers to take to Rosie and a cow demon steak, rare with pieces of crystallized soul in a small pile. Charlie tried not to think on whose soul Alastor was eating.

They enjoyed their meals. Charlie caught Vaggie's eye as they were finishing up, who nodded at her. Good. The newspeople were watching them. It was time to add to their reports.

"Alastor," Charlie said after she wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin. "What do you think of your meal?"

Alastor gave her a smile that she was pretty sure was genuine as he finished off his soul chips. "It was excellent, my dear! You two have excellent taste in restaurants."

"It was Charlie's idea," Vaggie admitted.

"Oh?" Alastor leaned over and said, "This was a rather smart idea. I'm enjoying myself greatly." Ah. He must've caught the voyeurs too. "It's wonderful to have eaten dinner with my beautiful brides."

"Oh you!" Charlie said, blushing for real. She wasn't sure why she was.

Vaggie laid her tablewares down. "Okay, I'm full."

"It was the right amount of food for me!" Charlie said. A little disappointed, she said, "I wish I could have some of their crème brûlée. I'm too full to eat it."

"Oh?" Alastor rolled the word around, like it was giving him ideas. He reached over and patted Charlie's hand. "We'll simply have to come back and get you a dessert at the beginning of the meal another time!"

"Definitely!" It warmed Charlie's heart, that Alastor enjoyed himself enough to want to come back with them. She wasn't sure if it was progress or not. Either which way, he was happy with things and that had been part of the aim of this date.

Alastor reached for Vaggie's hand as well. As earlier, he kissed their hands. Charlie caught his gaze shifting ever-so-slightly to behind her before looking at her again. "I believe we've finished our meals. Shall we head out?"

"Yes." Charlie could tell Vaggie was trying to keep her temper in check. She knew that this had been the plan. She had been trying, which is likely why she'd lasted in Alastor's company as long as she had.

Charlie didn't know if Alastor knew they had a running tab at the restaurant. He certainly acted like he knew as he got up, helping the other two out of their seats as well. Alastor flagged down the waiter to clear their plates before they left.

They exited the building arm-in-arm, Alastor again in the middle. Razzle was bouncing on the partly-intact canopy across the street. When he saw them, he immediately flew over and transformed. They all got on the same way they did earlier and departed.

Once they made it back to the hotel, Razzle dropped them off before he went back to the penthouse.

"This was a lovely evening, dear ladies," Alastor said, taking his hat off and bowing to them.

"Nightcap?" Vaggie suggested. It made Charlie gasp in awed surprise. Vaggie was intentionally trying to spend more time with Alastor!

Alastor shook his head as he stood back up. "I'm afraid I have a prior commitment. I will have to bid you goodbye for tonight!"

Before either of them could ask, Alastor melted into the shadows.

"Well, I tried." Vaggie shrugged. A smirk to Charlie was followed by, "How about you? Would you like to have a drink with me?"

Charlie smiled. "That would be lovely."

"The mission was a success."

"Hm?" Charlie was mid-dressing when Vaggie came in holding numerous papers. She buttoned her pants, and sans any top, walked over to her fiancee. "What's going on?"

"Here." Vaggie handed her several of the papers. "Look at the front pages."

Charlie flipped through each paper. Each had a different picture of them at their dinner the night before, all with headlines such as 'Overlord Alastor Woos the Princess of Hell' and 'Will Charlie Morningstar Allow Her Fiance to Eat You? Turn to Page 6 for Our In-Depth Analysis!'.

They all looked beautiful. Sexy. In control. Powerful . Some of the pictures were bad, blurry, and of such things as them blinking or mid-chew. Vox's newspaper had the story on page 9 with a 100 word acknowledgement of it having happened. When Charlie caught sight of the photo, she paused. Then she looked closer.

It was during the meal. It was an unflattering photo of Charlie, her mouth wide open to eat another bite. Vaggie was mid-sneeze. And Alastor…

The expression on his face. Most would have seen a barely-smiling demon who was bored. Charlie knew better. He was relaxed. Looking at Charlie with a fond smile. In his eyes, there was a spark that was normally not there. He almost looked like he was actually enjoying himself. And, maybe, smitten with her.

Charlie's heart stopped. Then she squeed so hard that the windows shattered.