Angel's apartment wasn't exactly what Vaggie had expected it to be. True it was as small as she suspected but it was shockingly very clean and neat. She thought that someone like him would keep his home very messy and disorganized. Well it wasn't squeaky clean but it was tidy. As tidy as a laid back person could get their place to be.

"You can use my shower if you want." Angel told her when they arrived. "Don't worry there's a lock on the door so you don't have to worry about me peeping. When my sister visits she has a tendency to leave behind some of her clothes, so I'll give them to you to wear. A hurricane is coming so we're both gonna have to spend the night in the same room. But you can have the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."

"Why are you doing this?" Vaggie asked him.

"Well I just said a hurricane is coming and the room where my sister sleeps is the most safe. Very small, no windows-"

"Not that." Vaggie said. "I mean why did you take me from Val? Why did you bring me here? Why are you being so nice to me? Are you hoping to get a blowjob or something as a reward?!"

She sounded so bitter. But Angel couldn't blame her, especially after the stunt Valentino pulled.

"Well as tempting as that motive is, that's not why. I got you out of there because I could tell that things were only going to get worse for you, here on and out."

"What are you talking about?"

"He stripped you in front of an audience, did it without so much as a shred of remorse. Now how long do you think it'll be before he decides your dancing isn't it cutting it and decides to just sell you to different men? Or women?"

"I appreciate the concern but it's not up to you to save me."

"Oh no, no I know I can't save you. You're not that type of broad. You can save yourself, I'm just trying to give you a hand at it. Which brings up a little question." He said. "Why are you with him?"

"Well why are you with him?"

"I was never with him. I just worked for him and I've decided that it's not worth it. So I've left and I'm not coming back. But you...You are going to go back to him, aren't you?"

Vaggie couldn't answer. She just looked away from him in shame, which confirmed that his deduction was correct.

"Why? After that, why would you go back? The money can't be worth it!"

"You don't understand, it's not about money! He doesn't even pay us! We're his slaves! We can't leave! Even if we wanted to! And I do want to leave! But I can't!"

"That doesn't make sense. How can you not leave? What, do you owe him money or something?"

"No."

"Does he have dirt on you? Did you commit a crime and he has you by blackmail?"

"No."

"Then what? What is he holding you with?"

"My soul!" She screamed with tears in her eyes. Tears that had been formed from years of abuse and mistreatment that she had tried to keep down. "Angel there's...There's something you need to know about me and I don't think you'll believe it but I can't see any other way to make you understand. I'm not a human being."

"Come again?"

"You know how Valentino makes money by displaying mythical creatures? Well it's not smoke and mirrors. Husk, Mr. Pentious, and myself, we're all mythical creatures. Creatures who couldn't fit in or find a place anywhere, when Valentino found us, he promised us a home where we would be accepted and adored. But the cost was our souls and we were so desperate to belong anywhere that we thoughtlessly agreed to his bargain and now he owns us."

Angel's eyes went wide and his pupils shrank as he listened to her words.

"Um...Huh?" Clearly his brain needed a moment to adjust. "Is this...Is this a joke?"

"I wish." She sighed. "But no. Here, I'll show you."

Vaggie wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, instantly her body transformed into a floating orb of purple fire. Angel was startled, he jumped back and fell on the floor. The flaming orb lowered itself down to his level and then changed back into Vaggie.

"Now do you believe me?" She asked him.

"What the hell was that?!"

"It's one of the few abilities I can do."

"What are you?"

"I know I don't look like it, but I'm a fairy. A wingless fairy. I was born without wings and my own kind rejected me for that. After I lost the only person who loved and accepted me, I had to leave my homeland to escape the constant bullying and harassment. I wandered around, relying on myself to live. I did just fine until Winter came."

"What happened in Winter?"

"Fairies can't survive in extremely cold weather, especially ones without wings. When Valentino found me, he offered to shelter me from the cold and give me my own wings, at the cost of my soul. Deep down I knew it would be mistake. I knew it was stupid to agree, but I was desperate. Without warmth I wouldn't have survived and with my own wings, I'd no longer be a misfit. I just didn't know what else to do. So I signed the contract and I've regretted it ever since."

Now this was a lot of information for Angel to get in twenty seconds. Not to mention the impact of feeling so many emotions coming at once. Shock at the discovery that legendary creatures like fairies were real and that Vaggie was one. Terror over the kind of person Valentino was and that he was way more twisted than Angel ever suspected. And empathy for Vaggie's heartbreaking circumstances. If Angel had not been put through the wringer so many times due to abuse, the mafia, bullies, and drugs then he probably would have reacted in a more frantic way.

"So...you can't ever leave?" Angel said.

"Not as long as he has my soul." Vaggie said. "If he does anything to it, I'll cease to exist. That means I die and there's no afterlife. No heaven, no hell, I just turn to dust and that's it. That's how it is with all of us."

"My God." Angel whispered in shocked horror as the realization of her problem sank in. "No wonder you're trying to get back to the bastard, because if you don't then it's the end of line."

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

"There's got to be someway out of this."

"The only way out is if Valentino gives me back my soul, which he'll never do, or if he dies before I do."

"And that's it?"

"Well maybe if he lost his powers but I don't see that happening ever. Point is, I'm trapped. We're all trapped and there's no way out. So you should just take me back to him tomorrow."

"No. I can't do that. But I promise, I'll find someway to help you."

"You can't help me! No one can!"

"I don't believe that. If I can break my drug addiction, then I'm sure I can find some solution for your problem."

"You're crazy! You can't beat someone like Valentino! He's the devil incarnate!"

"Maybe so, but if there's one thing I've learned from my forced cooperation into the mafia world, it's that every asshole has an Achilles Heel. We just have to find out what Val's is."

"Easier said than done. Valentino is psycho but not stupid. He'd never make his weakness obvious. Especially not to me."

"I know but over the years you must've noticed some hints. Has he ever avoided something in particular or acted weird about something? There's no way you could have worked with him for all that time and not at least picked up a clue."

"I'll have to think about it and see what I can remember. But I mostly just paid attention to my own misery."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. You've had it way too rough today. For now let's just clean yourself up and rest. If you want a shower, you better take it now before the storm picks up."

"Alright."

While Vaggie took her shower, Angel laid out some clothes for her to wear and at the sametime tried to wrap his head around everything he had just learned.

"Okay so magical creatures like fairies are real, Vaggie is one of them, and Valentino is pretty much a cheap copy of Satan. Bizzare, but I can adjust to that." He said to Fat Nuggets. "I mean that's not the worst thing in the world to find out about a girl you like. I mean, at least she's not a serial killer."

Fat Nuggets got up from the floor and went into the kitchen, where he used his nose to open a cabinet and with his mouth, he carried a bottle of liquor to Angel. He quickly took the bottle from the pig, popped off the lid, and took a huge swallow.

"Thanks Nugsy, I needed that." Fat Nuggets then crawled into his lap in order to soothe him. "I'm okay. Really I am, I just need time to comprehend this."

Fat Nuggets stared at him.

"Don't give me that look, I know I'm not the most competent and reliable person for something like this but I made a promise and you know I never break a promise."

The pig snorted and somehow Angel knew what he was trying to say.

"I don't know how I'm going to do it. But I will...I hope."

By the time Vaggie had finished her shower and gotten dressed, no one was in the mood to be awake any longer. So all three of them went straight to bed. Well technically only Vaggie went to bed, Angel and Fat Nuggets slept on the floor. The pig dozed off very quickly but Vaggie and Angel found it hard to sleep despite wanting to. Hours passed and they kept hearing the other person toss and turn, anxiety keeping them awake. The thunder, lighting, and wind didn't help very much either.

"Are you asleep?" Vaggie finally asked.

"No." He answered.

"I guess I should take this time to thank you, for what you did and for what you're doing now." She said with her face turned to the ceiling.

"Don't mention it." He said with his face turned to the bed.

"Are you...Are you really doing all this just to be nice? Tell me the truth, is there nothing you're hoping to get out of this?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But...Honestly I guess I'm helping you because I know where you're coming from. I know what it's like to be trapped and it looks like there's no way out."

He slowly lifted his arm up to the edge of the bed.

"I don't want anyone else to feel like they're alone and there's nobody they can rely on. I'll let you do your own thing babe and if you want me out of your life, that's fine. I won't like it but I can respect it. Still, if you want help..."

Vaggie turned over and looked at his hand. Her mind that had been desensitized by some much of the world's cruelty told her that she would be foolish to trust him. That he didn't really care, that there had to be some ulterior motive behind his actions, that no human could be so kind. At least not to her. But her heart which was not completely made of stone and harbored one hopefully ray of light that had been longing for someone to give a damn, told her that he was being sincere. That not everyone was like Valentino. That Verona was not the only person in the world who could love and accept her. And if she didn't accept real love and friendship when it was offered, she would always be alone and miserable.

Her arm reached over to the side of the bed and she placed her hand in his.

"Thank you." She said holding back her tears. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Vaggie couldn't see his face but she knew he as smiling. "Now um...Since sleep isn't coming for us anytime soon, you mind answering some questions for me?"

"I guess."

"You said that you're a fairy right?"

"Yes."

"How come you're so big? I thought fairies were supposed to be small."

Vaggie chuckled under her breath.

"And what kind of fairies are there? Are they all like you? Is the tooth fairy real? Does she give money for wisdom teeth? Because I've got to get mine pulled at my next dentist appointment. What are they worth to her? It's gotta be more than a quarter."

"Oh this is going to be a long night." Vaggie giggled.