Shattered Innocence Ch. 08
The three young women walk into the Carmine's usual beauty salon.
"Hey, Clea!" Clara walks up to the front desk. "Carmine. Party of three."
The Hellhound woman looks up at the sisters. "Clara. Odette," she smiles while looking at the book in front of her. "I see that you don't have an appointment. But the boss says to always make room for you," the hellhound then glances at the third one. "And I guess I can squeeze in your friend."
Emily then finds herself pulled into a hug by the puffy-haired Carmine. "This is Emily. She's staying with us."
"Oh, really," the hellhound raises brow at that while looking the disguised seraphim up and down before turning to Clara. "Your mom's letting you bring one home? She doesn't appear to be your usual type. But who am I to judge."
At that, Emily tilts her head. "Type?"
"It's not like that, Clea," Clara shakes her head with a chuckle. "Em, here is a special guest of ours. Not a fling or anything," she then turns to Emily. "She's more like family." That causes the angel to smile at the Carmine.
"Well, then," Clea jots something down in the book. "I'll show you to your stations. Would you like your own or would you like to stay close?"
"We'd prefer to be near each other," Clara tells her. "And we prefer to be attended by women exclusively today."
The hellhound blinked before shrugging. "Anything for our best customers."
The girls were shown to their seats and soon walked off. She is then stopped by a Sinning man who whispers into her ear. "But they specifically asked—"
"Who's the one in charge?" the man asks.
The hellhound looks down before leaving.
As soon as Emily sits down, she notices the Carmines removing their shoes and decides to do the same. Soon a bowl of sliced cucumbers is offered to her. The angel takes one and is about to eat it when laughter is heard from her side.
"I know that you're always up for a snack, Em, but you don't eat that," Clara's giggle fit starts dying down as she covers her eyes with cucumbers. "You place them over your eyes."
"Oh?" the seraphim grabbed a second one. "Why?"
Odette removes her glasses before placing cucumbers on her face. "Cucumbers are high in water contend which hydrates the…"
"They help get rid of puffiness and dark circles," Clara cuts in. "Try not to bore her with science, Odette. Of course, it does help me doze off. Bore away.
The spectacled Carmine lifts one of the cucumbers to glare at her sister, despite only getting a blurry image.
As soon as her eyes were covered, Emily leaned back to wait for work to be done. She didn't flinch when feeling something touch her foot as the seraphim was told ahead of time. But then the one tending to her spoke.
"You're so lovely."
Emily went stiff as the voice was not feminine. But she knows that doesn't mean everything. However! The girl had to know for sure as she sits up and removes. The angel immediately regrets it at the site of a man with three short horns sprouting out of his forehead.
As a reaction, Emily large eye opens while letting out a scream that alerted the Carmine's as she kicks the Sinner in the face. The Seraphim then starts backing up as her wings sprout.
"Get away! Get away!" she falls out of the seat and hits her head on the floor, causing the horned headband to fall off.
"Emily!?" Clara shouts as she and Odette are instantly by the angel's side, trying to calm her down.
"It hurts! Stop! It hurts! Please!" she starts calming down, feeling the embrace of two sets of arms.
"It's okay, Em. It's okay," Clara soothes her.
Odette rests her glasses on the bridge of her nose so that she can get a clear view of what happened. Seeing the three horned Sinning man, the spectacled Carmine was able to see everything. "We requested an all female staff specifically!" her gaze turns to Clea. "Why did you allow him near us?"
The hellhound woman glances down. "I had to," having a hard time looking the customer in the eye. "He's the new manager. I couldn't tell him no when he said that he'd tend to her personally."
"Oh, really?" Clara takes out her phone and taps the screen several times before putting it away. Not two seconds later, the stores phone starts ringing. "You may want to get that. It's for you."
The Sinner quickly picks up the phone. "Yes?..." he answers and his jaw drops. "You can't do that!… Yes… Yes… I understand," the man hangs up. He suddenly turns to glare at the disguised angel and the Carmin's. He growls while approaching "You got me fired you b—" whatever he was about to say got cut off by being pinned by the sisters.
"You do realize that we're Overlords, right?" Odette glares.
Clara who has her arms wrapped around the Sinner's neck, tightens her grip. "We can make your life even more of Hell than it already is. The next time we see you, we'll personally drag you to our mother's company and into our testing department."
"I would be interested to see how long you last. A day? A week? Perhaps a month if you're lucky."
The sisters let go and the moment the man was freed, he dashes out of the salon.
"Well, Em," Clara turns to the angel. "Let's go…" but finds her missing.
.oOo.
She had to get out of there. But no matter where Emily went, one of them was always nearby. Blocking her path. The angel's eyes run over everything she comes across. Desperately looking for something, anything to help. Her eyes eventually land on a familiar sign of a woman in a dress and darts into the restroom.
Emily's breathing starts slowing down as she leans against the wall. The seraphim then let's out a deep sigh. Then, the girl notices something on her shoulder. It was a slice of cucumber. She lets out a small laugh before picking it up. And just as the angel was about to eat it, she got a whiff of it and suddenly a wave of nausea rushed over her. The poor girl ran into the nearest stall and emptied her stomach contents into the toilet.
"That's been happening a lot lately," the seraphim walked out of the stall and over to the sink to wash up. Looking up in the mirror, Emily notices her wings are out and briefly concentrated to pull them back in.
"She was my best model! Emphasis on the was" an accented voice shouts as the bathroom doors were slammed open. "But ever since Val tore her into pieces, she hasn't looked the same," in walks a Sinning woman with redhair with dark navy highlights and white swirls done in a side braid talking into a phone. "I need someone new. Some one fresh. Someone…" the woman stops and stares at Emily who is staring back in worry. "Someone like you. Call you back, Vox," she hangs up.
"Um, hi!" the angel waves. "I'm Emily."
"Well, look at you, Emily!" the woman holds her hands up. "You have a lovely face. It's practically made for the camera," she holds up her phone and takes a few pictures. "Very nice indeed," she turns back to the disguised seraphim. "Where are my manners. Names Velvette. I'm sure you heard of me?" and approaches her.
"I, uh, can't say I have," Emily is starting to feel awkward with the space between her and the demon getting smaller. "I'm, I'm new here."
Velvette's smile grows hearing that. "A recent arrival, eh?" the woman then pulls out a card to hand over to the grey girl. "Me and my partners have this business and I want you to join."
That caught Emily off guard. "Me?"
"Yeah, you! You've got the looks. Well, almost," she looks her up and down. "You have a little bit of pudge showing but I'm sure you can work that off and you'll be perfect. If not? Nothing a girdle can't hide. What do you say?"
"I don't know," the angel looks away. "What would I be doing for you?"
"For me? You'll be showing off the best trending styles. I'm sure Vox wouldn't mind if you promote some of his tech. And with a pretty face like yours, I'm sure Val would love to have you in at least one of his movies. The people of Hell will love you," she pulls out a slip of paper. "What do you say?" and holds it out to her along with a pen. "All you have to do is sign and you'll never have to worry about anything again."
Emily takes the slip of paper and briefly glances at the contract. "W-would I have to worry about men? I'm kinda uneasy around them."
Velvette started thinking for a moment. "The problem is my business partners happen to be of the lesser sex. You'll have to meet with them every now and then. But I can promise to limit the interaction. I just have to have you working for me," she then holds the pen closer to the girl's face.
The angel hesitantly reaches for the pen but it gets smacked out of the redhaired woman's hand.
"Ow! What are you doing you," Velvette turns and is aggravated at the sight of the Carmine sisters. "Ugh! What are you b(bleep)ches doing here?"
Clara takes Emily by the hand. "We were looking for our friend," and starts dragging the angel out of the restroom.
Odette glares at the Vee. "If you come near Emily then the pact will mean nothing," the spectacled Carmine then makes her leave as well.
"Yeah, well," the Influencer huffs before flipping her off. "F(bleep) you!"
NOTE: Both this chapter and the last chapter is just one of those time that I felt things were just getting a bit too long. So, I split it up into three. Shouldn't be too long for the next part. That's also why there's an earlier update than usual.