Elida wasn't stupid. But she was angry. Angrier than she'd been in a long time. And angry people do reckless things. Things like breaking into locked filing cabinets and leaving notes for confused overlords. Things like flying around Hell unescorted. Things like visiting Vee tower without backup nearby.

Vox laughed and laughed when he saw the look on Elida's face as she fled the ball. Then he laughed some more when he saw Alastor forced to run and hide. That smiling freak would be the most hated man in Hell for quite a while. Betraying the only person who stood between the demons and total extermination would put a target on Alastor's back so huge he'd have to go back into hiding or risk being murdered over and over again for years. If Vox played his cards right over the next few hours, Alastor would lose everything, and the Vees would be at the top of the heap.

Alastor should have known better than to fall in love. It was the easiest thing in the world to exploit.

Waiting until Elida was back at the hotel, Vox dialed her personal number. He couldn't call too soon, or she'd ignore him, but too late and she'd have time to discover that the photo was a fake. The timing had to be perfect. He had to get her while she was raw and hurt. She couldn't be allowed time to think.

His cameras could see the signs of her angelic glow moving around from the windows in Alastor's radio tower. He hoped she was trashing the place.

Her phone rang once or twice before she picked up. He heard her sniffle, "What do you want?"

He put on his most sympathetic voice, "Hey, E. I heard what happened. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" she replied with a snap.

"Look, what that asshole did was way out of line. If it helps at all, I get it. I've been cheated on too." She didn't say anything, so he continued, "You know, I like to think you and I are friends by now. I'd bet you don't want to wait around that hotel for… him… to show up, do you?"

She sniffled again, "Not really… But where else am I supposed to go? I live here. I can't just go up to Heaven, either. My travel is limited while I'm down here."

Vox grinned from behind the phone, but made sure to keep the pitying tone in his words, "Well… you could always come to Vee tower? You can come by and rant about him all you want. I had a pretty busy day lined up, but I can clear my schedule if it's for you. I care about you. I can even set up a place for you to crash if you need it."

He hadn't had any appointments that day, he'd been planning for this and this alone, but he needed to make her feel important. She didn't say anything for several moments, sniffles and what seemed to be the sound of rustling papers coming from her end of the line. Finally, she said, "Okay. I'd like that. Thank you, Vox, I really need to get out of this place."

Vox pumped his fist roughly through the air in triumph, but said very softly, "Don't worry about it. I'm here for you. You can trust me."

And then she hung up. And Vox waited. He had an assistant set a bed up in his personal living room, which he had no intention of her using. She just needed to see that it was there. He'd get her to sign her soul away, and then he'd fuck her in his own bed. Or they'd go back to hers, and make a lot of noise, just to piss Alastor off.

Elida must be a fast flyer, because she didn't take very long to get to Vee tower. She didn't bother with the door either; she just landed on one of the balconies and texted him to come let her in. He did so.

"Hey, Elida," he greeted with big sad eyes, "come here." He pulled her into a hug, which she allowed. She was cold as ice and shaking like a leaf. He petted her hair comfortingly as she sobbed into his shoulder. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"How could he?" She cried, "And how could Aida? We're sisters!"

Aida must have been the name of the witch who's image he'd used. All he knew about her was that he'd seen her braiding Alastor's hair on more than one occasion. It added plausibility to the story.

"He's always been a backstabber," Vox said, guiding her further inside and taking her to his suite. "He betrayed me, too, a long time ago. You're better off without him."

"I just don't understand…"

Good. He wanted her confused. "No one does. Alastor is a bit… well…" Vox trailed off, deciding that any insult he could come up with probably wouldn't have the same effect as letting her mind fill in the blanks would.

"It's been barely a month. He was my best friend."

"Friends don't hurt each other like that."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, no no no, my dear, this isn't your fault. It's him."

"But what if I just wasn't enough? What if he got a taste of what a relationship was like and just decided he wanted more? He said I was his first girlfriend. How could he do this?"

This was going way better than Vox thought it would; she was practically feeding this to him. All Vox had to do was tug on the right strings.

While Vox and Elida chatted in Vee tower, Alastor teleported home. He ignored the whispering hotel guests staring at him and made his way up to his radio station. He needed space to think. No sooner had he locked the door and started on his desperately-need mental breakdown than he spotted a handwritten note sitting on the desk. On top of it sat Elida's wand. She'd left it behind.

Not wanting to know what it said, Alastor read the note. It was simple and to the point, "Wait here. Keep this safe. If I'm not back by morning, send help. Love, Elida."

"What are you playing at, little witch?" Alastor muttered to himself, reading the letter over and over again. He checked it for spells, hidden messages, cyphers, anything. But there was nothing. It was just a regular old note.

Love, she write that out of habit? Was it to put him at ease so she could catch him off guard for something? Was she already ready to forgive him? Did someone else write it and kidnap her during the chaos? Where was she going?

His first instinct was to find her and drag her back; but the note said to wait there. It was possible she just needed space, or she was working some unknown angle that Alastor could mess up by interrupting. Or maybe she was stalling. He didn't know; she was impossible to predict.

God, he loved her. He couldn't stand to see her upset. There was a time he'd have laughed at the look of pain on her face, but not anymore. Not with her. He needed to smooth this over.

Deciding his only real choice was to wait and see what she did, Alastor sat down in his chair. He had a way with words. His silver tongue had gotten him out of tight spots before. It had helped him climb up the ladder of Hell and win more souls than he could count. It would help him now. He'd make this right.

Pulling a pen and paper from the open file desk that he could've sworn he'd locked, Alastor got to work composing the first and only love letter he'd ever written.

While Alastor wrote, Elida sobbed into Vox's shoulder. She cried, he soothed, and Vox sent insulting jabs Alastor's way as often as he felt he could get away with. He needed her to hate him, at least for a bit. It seemed to be working.

"I wish I'd never met him!" She pounded a fist against Vox's chest. She wasn't very strong when she wasn't using magic. Vox doubted she'd even be able to open a pickle jar on her own.

"It's a shame you still have to live with him," Vox said, leading her in the direction he wanted her to go. "It really is awful you have to pick between staying in Hell and seeing him every day, or leaving for Heaven and letting all your friends die."

"I don't want him there anymore," Elida buried her face in her hands, "I don't want to see him ever again. I wish he was dead!"

There it was. Took her long enough. Vox had started to get kind of bored waiting for it. He pretended to hesitate, "You know… I could probably help with that."

Elida looked up, a look of disbelief on her face, "What?"

Vox continued, "Alastor is a bad person. And he's getting in your way. How easy will it be for you to do your job with him lingering around you all the time? Would you really be able to focus?"

She shook her head, "I wouldn't. I'd be distracted."

"And what would happen if you were distracted?"

She thought hard. He could see the gears turning in her head. "Souls would suffer," she finally said. "People would have a harder time getting redeemed."

"And if too few people get redeemed?" Come on, say it! He needed to convince her she had a good justification.

"Then the exorcists would come back," she said, eyes wide, "and you'd all die anyway."

"Which means…?" Vox prompted.

Elida's eyes grew hard, anger and resolution clear in her expression, "Which means it's either Alastor, or everyone."

Fucking finally! "Exactly," Vox agreed, patting her shoulder. "So, which will it be? He's sunk either way, and it's his own damn fault."

"You'd…" She hesitated again, "You'd kill him? For me?"

"Well," he looked a bit regretful, "demon law prevents me from doing something that big as a favor. It has to be an exchange." That was a lie, but she didn't need to know that.

"What do you want?" she asked. "Money?"

"No no no," Vox said, eyes flashing, "Money doesn't work with this kind of thing."

"Then what?"

Finally, he dropped the bomb, "A soul for a soul. That's how it has to be. And we both know there's no one else in Hell devoted enough to your cause to do it for you. It has to be yours."

She sat there, shock laid bare on her face, hand over her mouth in horror. But she didn't say no. Time to seal the deal.

"Of course, Alastor is too strong for me to do it myself. You'd need more than one person," Vox said, sweetening the pot. This was the important bit; convincing her that she couldn't get someone else to do it. I had to be the Vees. He sent his colleagues the signal, and they quietly entered the room. They stood behind Vox, trying very hard not to smile.

"Val and Vel will help," Vox continued, "and we'd share you. I'll make sure you're well treated. There will be so few changes that you'll hardly even remember the contract exists. But you'll be able to help those poor souls get redeemed. And you'll save us all."

Elida stared at the wall for a long time, clearly thinking hard. He wished he could tell what was going on in her mind. Finally, after leaving Vox waiting there with bated breath for ages, she looked back at him and nodded.

YES! YES YES YES YES YES! FUCK YES!

Vox pulled a contract out of his jacket and held it out to her. "Here. Why don't you look this over, and we'll make sure you never have think about that cheating bastard ever again."

Elida took the paper with a shaking hand, unfolding it. "So, the four of us sign a contract together, and you do anything I want to Alastor?"

"You name it," Vox agreed.

She watched the Vees watching her. Frowning, Elida said, "I'd like a moment, please."

"Of course!" Vox dripped with charm, "Take all the time you need."

He took the others by their shoulders and walked over to the other side of the room. Turning away to smirk at each other over their crowning triumph. They silently congratulated each other, reveling in the power they'd have at the angel's hand.

While their backs were turned, Elida signed.

"Your turn," she said, voice quiet and defeated. "Please, make it quick, or I might change my mind."

They didn't hesitate. All three Vees signed the paper, big sharklike smiles on their faces. When they were done, the paper flashed and dissipated into the air, sealing the magic irreversibly. She was theirs.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Vox said with a grin.

"Before you go," Elida chirped, her voice suddenly different. Louder. More confident. More smug. "I think I should mention something." Her face had changed in an instant. The tears stopped. Her quivering chin steadied. Her lips curled upward in an unnerving smile.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Why don't you check those shiny new leashes?"

"With pleasure," Vox agreed, finally allowing himself to show how hungry he felt in that moment. He reached out, calling to the new thread of magic that linked them.

But something was wrong.

Elida had no collar.

Instead, a shining golden chain appeared, not on Elida, but on Vox. And on Val. And on Velvette. All three of them wore matching bonds, glowing bright and strong. Elida held the ends of all three.

"You really ought to check what you're signing before you pick up a pen," she advised. "You never know when someone will switch a document while your back is turned."

"Hold on," Vox said in shock, "Wait… What the fuck!?" The chain was hard against his throat. He yanked at it. Val and Vel cried out in anger, clawing at their own collars to no avail. They were hers. She'd played them.

"Play stupid games," she shrugged, "win stupid prizes. Welcome to the consequences of your own actions. Now," she leaned forward, a smile not unlike Alastor's spread across her lips, "Kneel."

They were forced to comply. It felt wrong not being able to control their own limbs. But her command over their souls was absolute, and she could not be disobeyed. They knelt.

"I would advise you not to insult my intelligence again in the future," she said conversationally, twirling the chains around her hands. "Everyone knows that any photo of Alastor taken without his consent gets blurred out."

"Oh shit…" Vox had forgotten that detail. He spent so much energy making the image look real, that he'd neglected to realize it was too perfect. He'd relied so heavily on controlling Elida's emotional state that he wound up underestimating her. "Wait," he said, confused, "But then why did you run away so fast? You ditched Alastor with a crowd of angry cannibals."

"You were watching us, weren't you?" she pointed out, "I had to put on a good enough show. I just wish Alastor knew I'm not really upset with him. He must be freaking out right now. We'll fix that soon."

Velvette snarled, "So what do you plan to do with us, then? Keep us as pets? Use us as furniture?"

"Fuck that," Valentino spat.

Elida answered, "I believe in the punishment fitting the crime. So, starting with you," she turned to Val, "You are hereby forbidden to have sex of any kind, including by your own hand, until every single soul under contract with you is free of addiction."

"What!?" Val looked like he was ready to skin her alive.

"You've been a thorn in my side from the start and I don't like you. This should give you proper motivation to stop forcibly addicting people to illicit substances. You want to get off? Get your people clean."

"I employ thousands of pathetic drugees," Val protested, "Getting them clean could take forever!"

"Then I suggest you get used to avoiding your turn-ons," she said with a shrug. "As for you," she turned to Velvette, who snarled violently, "You're going to reform the way you treat your employees. Contact my business partner, and implement every single one of his company policies, starting with allowing everyone access to the bathrooms. I also have a little clothing project I'd like you to do, but we'll discuss that later."

"Fuck you, fuck your policies, and fuck your partner! I'm not-" she grit her teeth, physically incapable of refusing, even verbally.

"And no more screaming at people," Elida added for good measure. Velvette wanted to tear this cunt's throat out with her teeth. "Now, for the pièce de résistance," Elida turned to Vox, "The instigator of all this."

"What are you going to do?" Vox was genuinely frightened now. This was Alastor's girl. Her loyalty was to Vox's greatest enemy.

"I'm going to make you do something." She paused, letting him sweat a bit. "Something I guarantee you don't want to do."

Vox stared, chained and helpless. This was worse than the runway incident. She didn't just have the power to end him, she had the power to keep him. She could hurt him however she wanted for as long as she wanted, and he wouldn't even be granted the mercy of death. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the punishment he knew he deserved, but hoped never to endure.

"I'm going," Elida said, "to make you apologize."

Vox's brain buffered in bewilderment. "Is… is that it…?" He didn't dare hope.

"No." she said, crossing her arms. "You're going to apologize to Alastor. Publicly. Streamed live to every television station in Hell. And then you're going to hope he forgives you, because if he doesn't, I'll let him pick what happens to you next."

All of a sudden, Vox wished she'd just opted for the torture idea.

And that was how Elida McCarthy secured her position as the newest Overlord of Hell.