Harlene wrinkled her nose down at what was left of the boar demon before turning to the small bathroom of her private room. She grabbed a towel from where she kept them stored and began wiping blood from her face, gasping when pain seared across her cheek.

She checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror, gently pressing at the wound on her cheekbone and wincing when it dripped fresh blood down the side of her face. The bastard must have cut her. It would heal quickly, all normal wounds in Hell did.

In the reflection, her body and dress were stained with bright red. The elastic holding her ears and hair back had broken and her hair framed her face in a wild mess of blood-soaked tangles. Her red eyes seemed to glow still, the monster beneath satisfied with her kill.

Harlene grimaced at her ghastly appearance, she desperately wanted to shower but the thought of Delphene alone in the office kept her from peeling off her blood-soaked dress and rinsing away the remains of the boar demon.

Her people were her priority.

Harlene's office was connected to her private room by a doorway. She was grateful that none of the patrons or staff of Lapine could see her move from one room to the other in the state she was in. Wiping down her arms with the towel wasn't going to be enough to cover up the viscera splattered all over her.

Delphene was pacing when Harlene entered, her snakelike Medusa hair whipping to attention when the door opened. The rabbit demon closed the door swiftly behind her and locked it. She knew Delphene trusted her to take care of it, there was no need to show her proof or to give her a look at the damage done.

For a moment, there was only silence. Delphene took in Harlene's blood-covered dress and stained face, tears welling up in her green eyes. Then she made her way to her boss, gathering her in a hug that lifted Harlene off her feet.

"You're going to get blood on you, Del," Harlene murmured but didn't protest, wrapping her arms around the taller demon.

"Thank you," Delphene whispered, voice hitching with unshed tears. She set the rabbit demon down and stepped back, rubbing her arms nervously.

Harlene considered Delphene for a moment. She was clearly shaken by her experience with the boar demon.

A good amount of Lapine's staff had been some kind of sex worker before in life, they were all familiar with the scene. Harassment was, unfortunately, a part of the job.

Another part of the job was carrying events of harassment and abuse with you all the way into Hell.

Harlene wanted to give people like Delphene—people like herself—a safe place to do what they did best, what they enjoyed.

She took both of Delphene's hands in hers, gazing up at her with sympathetic eyes, "Of course, love. Why don't you go upstairs and rest for the night?"

Delphene's tears spilled over, a sob escaping her lips, "Yes ma'am."

"And don't worry about splitting your earnings with me. Whatever you made tonight is all yours."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Harlene closed the door firmly behind Delphene and sighed, smoothing the hair on the top of her head. She grimaced as she felt the cooling blood soak through her hair to her scalp. Her hands came away freshly wet and stained and she groaned dramatically, wiping the blood on her ruined dress.

The shower, she needed that shower. She bent over and worked her heels off.

"That was quite the spectacle."

Harlene jumped, whirling around towards a corner of her office behind her desk, towards the sound of the voice.

It was empty.

She touched her thigh, feeling a sense of relief when she felt her dagger in place. She scanned the room, but it truly was empty.

Just as she was starting to think that she had imagined it, Alastor melted out of the shadows on the wall. With a snap of his fingers, she heard the lock of her door click behind her.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other before Harlene gave a resigned sigh and padded barefoot to her desk. She dropped her shoes to the floor and searched for her phone between the stacks of paperwork, leaving red fingerprints all over everything.

Once she found it, she turned towards him. He opened his mouth to speak again but she raised a hand, silencing him. This somehow seemed to make him smile wider.

Harlene unlocked the phone and, with a few taps, disabled the VoxTech security camera positioned over Alastor's head. No need for prying eyes, especially the protective kind. Using the back of her hand, she wiped blood from her cheek where it was dripping from her wound, "Can I help you?"

"Interesting," he smirked, watching the movement of her hand, static crackling a little louder around him. He gestured above his head at the camera, "Does this mean you don't feel in danger alone with me, my dear?"

Alastor seemed to have the ability to fill a room with his presence. While this unnerved Harlene, she was no stranger to bigger people trying to intimidate her. The high of taking down a demon twice her size swirled in her head, emboldening her. Despite being so much taller than her, he would have to try a lot harder to make her feel small.

She matched his smile with her own, "I just wanted to give us some privacy. Besides, you stand nothing to gain by hurting me. You strike me as the type of man that needs a reason," she unsheathed her dagger, making a show of wiping it on the ruined skirt of her previously pristine dress, "And, as you so clearly saw while peeping on my private space, I can handle myself."

"Is that so?" he looked her up and down ravenously. Usually this would make Harlene's skin crawl, but his eyes only lingered on the places her body and dress were splattered with blood. This distinction made it less bothersome.

Harlene knew the truth; Hell was bloody. Hell was terrifying, it housed some of the worst people. It seemed to her that if you didn't participate in the carnage—no matter how willing you were about it—you couldn't thrive.

Alastor was an Overlord. Harlene knew that you didn't get to be an Overlord of Hell without at least having the stomach for it. She also knew some of them enjoyed the turmoil, the bloodshed. Some made it a game.

Alastor clearly was the type to play games.

"You know, usually people make an appointment," Harlene leaned forward, propping herself up by a hand against her desk, "But considering your reputation, I suppose I can make time for you."

"You'll have to forgive my sudden intrusion, my dear," Alastor dipped his head in a polite bow. He maintained his smile, but there was a twinge of frustration in his voice. He clearly didn't like being denied what he wanted, "I asked after you in the front, but your staff are quite…"

"Loyal," Harlene finished, feeling pride swell in her chest. She could just picture little Vesper glaring miles above their head at the radio demon.

"Indeed."

"So, you decided to watch, instead? With your little shadow tricks?" she gestured to the corner of the room with her dagger, drawing small circles in the air with the tip.

Alastor clasped his hands behind his back and moved towards Harlene in even strides, eyes narrowed but smiling. As he rounded her desk, she wondered if he ever stopped smiling, "Not at first, my dear, but I couldn't help it when I heard the screaming. That was quite a display! Though one has to wonder why you would keep all of it to yourself."

The rabbit demon tensed at his approach but held her position against the desk, not breaking eye contact. It's a game, play his game of wits, "It would ruin the atmosphere for everyone here. I'm nothing if not a gracious host."

She kept the dagger in her hand while reaching beside her for her personal bottle of spirits, pouring a healthy couple of fingers in a glass. Even though she truly believed he didn't want to hurt her, she wouldn't drop her guard entirely. She extended the glass between them, reaching her arm out as far as she could without touching him, "Bourbon?"

Alastor stopped, just short of the outstretched glass. There was a small silence before he took it, lifting it to his nose and smelling it.

Harlene studied his face, his posture, anything that would give her more of an insight to…him.

The truth about her clients is that they craved closeness, not just sex. The wanted to be understood, to be seen. She firmly believed that she was good at her job because she excelled at reading people.

Alastor's constant demonic smile made him harder to read than most.

"I'm not one to drink by myself, my dear."

His teasing tone brought her back from her reverie. He swirled the glass, chuckling.

She narrowed her eyes up at him but conceded. As she poured for herself, she watched his gaze trace the open cut on her face, his nostrils flaring. She wondered if he could smell her blood, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing in Hell.

She tapped her glass to his, dagger firmly in her dominate right hand, "Cheers."

"Santé. To your…performance."

Harlene hid a scowl behind the rim of her glass. She felt her patience waning. She was running on too little sleep, not enough coffee, and the anger from the general audacity of men. Between Vox's outdated display of concern, Valentino's general disrespect, and the boar demon's drunken attempt at power over one of her own, she had enough with bigger demons for the day.

Fighting the fire from a mouthful of bourbon, she eyed the radio demon, "Alastor let's just cut to the chase. What kind of deal do you want?"

The static dropped entirely from his voice, "Pardon?"

Sensing that she disarmed him, she pushed herself off her desk and advanced a step, closing the gap between them until she could feel his breath ruffle her hair. She smiled with teeth, mirroring him intentionally, though she only had the two fangs, "That's what you came here for, right? Overlords only show up at my club for two reasons. They either want to make a deal, or they want to fuck me. And if I'm being honest with you, cher, I won't fuck an Overlord without making a deal that benefits me."

Alastor blinked, eyes wide and brows raised high before composing himself back into a close-lipped smile, "My dear, I simply followed the lingering smell of carnage! You have an air about you. One of someone much more powerful than they let on and I just absolutely needed to see you in action!"

Harlene allowed herself to glare at him openly this time as he sipped from his glass. She didn't believe a word he said, it was all too incidental. It didn't take too much time for her to tire with games. She unintentionally let a low growl escape her curled lips.

"See?" he took her chin between his thumb and a finger, quickly but much more gently than she expected, "Your ferocity is entertaining."

He watched with increasing delight as horns curled out of the top of her head and from her temples, her fangs elongated, the black of her pupils took over her sclera. She jerked her chin, escaping the light grasp he held her with. The air swam around her, a mirage like a heatwave in the desert. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as she growled and grew to his height.

She closed her eyes and huffed out a short breath through her nose.

In a snap she returned to the black and white rabbity demon, "If it's entertainment you want, you'll have to pay just like everyone else in the club," she smiled sweetly up at him, "I dance burlesque once a week, you should stop by when I do. Or maybe wait for Jazz Night when we have flapper girls. That seems more your…speed."

He laughed heartily, a track of laughter joining him from the ether, "You might be right about that, my dear," he extended his glass and tapped it against hers, taking an enthusiastic swig from it.

Before Harlene could respond and tell him to leave, her phone buzzed.

She would have ignored it, but it kept ringing. She took a hesitant step back away from the radio demon and picked the phone up off her desk.

Vox was calling.

Harlene swore internally. He must have seen the bloodshed in her private room over the cameras.

The rabbit demon hesitated, chest tight, staring at the photo of the television demon on her phone as it rang. It wasn't as if she felt she needed to answer, per se. She truly liked Vox, and knew his intentions were good, at least when it came to her. After all these years he clearly had a soft spot for her, and she didn't want him to worry.

He clearly did not feel the same way about the radio demon. She didn't want to have to explain to the hotheaded Vox that his enemy was in her office. "Worry" would not come close to covering how he would feel about it.

"By all means, answer! Don't let me get in the middle of a call between lovers."

Harlene jumped at the closeness of his voice. She looked up and froze, Alastor's nose was nearly touching hers. His red eyes seemed to bore into hers with an incredible intensity.

Glaring, she took a step back and pointed her dagger at his chest. He glanced at the weapon and then back up to her face, eyebrows tilted down, conveying a challenge in his glare. She wondered if she would be quick enough to even prick through his shirt before he tore her apart like the boar demon festering on her couch.

For a tense moment, neither of them moved. Then she touched the knife's point to the bottom of his glass, tilting it up to his lips, "Shut up and drink."

His brows relaxed and he chuckled but ultimately obeyed.

She cleared her throat before picking up the call, eyeing Alastor carefully, "Hello, darling."

"Need me to send a clean-up crew, Bunny?"

Harlene's cheeks flushed red hearing Alastor quietly laugh at the pet name. He could clearly hear Vox's voice on the line, "Y-yes, that would be lovely."

"Done. They'll be there after close. I'll see you soon, Bunny," Harlene felt a sense of relief. Even this late at night, Vox was too busy for a longer phone call.

"See you soon!"

She set her phone back on the desk, finishing her drink in a single swallow, and then glared at the radio demon.

He gave her a sly smile, shaking his head in a theatrically disappointed way, "I do say I am surprised to find you're under my old pal's thumb. You seem so much smarter than that."

Harlene felt the bourbon boil in her blood, heating her already reddened cheeks. Fuck waking up early. Fuck the mess in her room. Fuck his games, "It's incredibly presumptuous that you think I'm under his thumb."

She immediately regretted saying anything. Alastor's smile widened impossibly across his cheeks, static crackling in the room. His eyes glowed slightly green as he closed the distance between them once more, cupping her jaw in his hand and swiping a thumb across her bloody cheek. She hissed out a sharp breath as he pressed against her wound, "You are interesting."

Harlene's heart pounded in her chest, partially from anger and partially from his insistence at being so close to her. She swatted his hand away and shockingly, he let her, "I think you should leave. Only come back if you want booze or to watch me dance."

Alastor drained his glass, setting it down with a flourish on her desk. He raised his thumb to his tongue, tasting the blood he wiped from her cheek as if it were something sweet, "Whatever you wish, Bunny."