Author note - welcome back readers, it's nice to post the next part of the story. A gracious thank you to the 47/53 favorites and followers, you all give me the impetus to keep writing. Welcome to new faces Sylux117, Theylovemaddiee, and Kronos117. Lastly, thanks to GeekyGirl183, Kronos117, and EpsilonW for the kind reviews, they all made my day! Now, onwards!
Chapter 54: The Entertainment District
Valentino passed through the doorway of one of his preferred nightclubs. His mouth turned up into a smug grin as he looked around and saw that his arrival had attracted the attention of several onlookers. Good, he thought with a sinister chuckle. Scouting nights were always a thrill for him; all he had to do is bring out his charming persona, sprinkle in some drinks, gifts, or drugs, and then finish the job with assurances of fame and fortune. Yes, by night's end, demons would inevitably flock to his side, eager to take up his offers to "work" for him at his studios and making him richer and more powerful.
He made his way through the crowd of partygoers to his VIP booth, shooting dashing winks or suggestive raises of his brow at possible candidates along the way. But his good-humored grin rapidly turned into a barely contained snarl when he spied a trio of demons sitting in his area, chatting, and partying away without a care in the world.
Two of the demons were nothing to write home about, but he saw potential in the ringleader of the group. A dragonfly-like demoness with iridescent purple skin and chin-length raven hair leaned back on the couch, one set of arms folded behind their head and the other absentmindedly flicked a metal lighter open and closed repeatedly as they listened to their companions. He gazed appreciably at the brown leather mini skirt and white sleeveless halter top with a diamond-shaped opening that showed off their cleavage and legs, along with the membranous opalescent wings folded behind them. As he approached, the conversation ceased and the demoness opened their eyes to reveal that they consisted of black sclerae and yellow pupils that were broken up into minute hexagons, giving the impression of compound eyes that he found mesmerizing.
Deciding this could be a blessing in disguise, Valentino hid his pique to try and get this Sinner under contract.
"Hey there, baby," he drawled and giving his best seductive smile.
"Not interested, thanks." The demoness waved him off with an indifferent tone.
Valentino took a deep breath through gritted teeth and suppressed the urge to tear the demoness into pieces on the spot.
'This little bitch and Velvette would get along like a house on fire.' Valentino fumed internally. Instead, he sat across from the group and took out a cigarette holder.
"Hey, douche bag, I told you to get lost! This is our booth." The dragonfly demoness said sharply.
"Oh, but baby, if anything you're in my booth. Valentino's the name, but you can call me Daddy." He said with a chuckle. "I'm here all the time and this spot is my absolute favorite!"
"Oh, in that case— actually, no, I don't care." The demoness said irritably before tilting their head. "Wait… where have I heard that name from?"
Valentino's smiled inched back up proudly.
"You must be new to town, everyone in Pentagram City knows about me. I am a powerful Overlord, after all." He gloated before leaning forward and looking the demoness up and down. "On that note, do you need a job? Looking like you do, the camera would—"
"I remember now!" Valentino was interrupted by the dragonfly demoness. "You're the one who got an aquarium dropped on him awhile back! I thought I smelled fish! That was fucking priceless!" They laughed and wiped a tear from their eye.
In a flash, a surge of rage struck, and Valentino stood before pulling his pistol on the mocking demoness, catching their attention. The demoness's wide eyes glowed and they tensed, all joking ceasing at once. Valentino ignored the two companions beating a hasty retreat, leaving the two alone.
"Give me a one good fucking reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out right now, you ungrateful slut." Valentino threatened, his tone harsh.
The dragonfly demoness gulped dryly before changing their tune.
"Sheesh, relax. Sorry for touching a nerve." The demoness apologized, their hands up beseechingly. "Look, let me make it up to you. I'll buy you a drink. Hell, I'll buy you the whole damn bottle, just please don't shoot… daddy." They uttered the last word with scarcely veiled disgust.
Valentino's rage diminished slightly at the servile tone. He plopped himself back onto the couch, pistol still in hand, and saw the demoness indicate to the bartender before returning their muted gaze to him.
"That's better. Remember that feeling because next time I won't be so merciful. Got it?" He said jovially, the smooth affect in his voice returning.
The bartender dropped off a bottle and two glasses at the table between them and quickly made himself scarce.
"Now, here's what's gonna happen, princess." Valentino purred, eyes gleaming triumphantly. "Right here, right now, you're going to sign your soul away, no questions asked. Then I'll put you to work for, say, a decade to start, but each time you mouth off or do something I don't like, I'll tack on another five years to your contract. Understand?"
There was a tense silence as Valentino gripped the bottle to pour himself a drink.
"Oorrr… we could play a game." The dragonfly demoness suggested.
Valentino laughed darkly.
"Unless the game involves me shooting you, I'm not interested."
To his surprise, the demoness replied.
"That's an option you could choose."
Intrigued, he gestured for them to go on. The dragonfly demoness put their hands forward, displaying their fingers.
"We play to win until one side yields. The only rule is that of the twenty fingers we both have, you must play using a single finger. We each select our own and only that finger can be used once the game starts." They explained. "If you win, I'll consider signing that contract you mentioned. If I win though, I'll leave all the money I have on me and be on my way without signing anything. Fair?"
Valentino considered the proposition before he gave a cruel smile.
"Sounds like fun." He crooned as he lifted his red pistol. "I pick my index finger, the one on the trigger of good ole Moneyshot here."
"Fine. Then I choose this finger." They made a thumbs up gesture and folded their lower arms in front of them.
'Too easy, this'll will be over in one second flat.' Valentino ruminated sadistically as he started to pour himself a pre-congratulatory drink.
"Ready?" The demoness asked. "Game on!"
Valentino aimed his pistol between the demoness's eyes.
"Game over, you stupid bitch —Eh?" He cried gleefully before pausing. His opponent flicked open their lighter and lit it before leaning forward and reaching toward Valentino with a smile. Quickly connected the dots, he chuckled and presented his cigarette holder to allow the demoness to light it for him.
"Good girl." He cooed as red wisps of smoke rose and turned into heart shapes. He took a satisfying drag when he heard the demoness say something.
"Whoops, I'm such a klutz today."
He glanced down and froze when he saw that the demoness had dropped their still lit lighter and it had landed squarely on top of the back of the hand he was pouring his drink with.
"One thing you should know." His eyes darted up to the dragonfly demoness, who sat back in their seat with a smug grin. "What you're pouring is Bacardi rum 151, with a throat-searing 75 percent alcohol content. Perfect for making mixed drinks like Hurricanes, flaming shots, or even at-home pyrotechnics."
'What the fuck!?' Valentino panicked as he bared his teeth. His balancing hand started to tremble despite himself when his glass started to overflow, and the alcohol dribbled across the table and onto his lap. 'If the lighter falls, the alcohol will catch and then I'll go up in flames!'
"Do you yield?" The demoness asked, golden eyes glowing brightly. "If you fire your gun, the recoil will definitely drop the lighter."
'Wait! I can still do this!' Valentino recalled as he exhaled and the red smoke from the cigarette holder formed into a hand and stretched over to the lighter. The smoky hand gripped the lighter before his cigarette holder suddenly went out and the smoke construct wavered and dissipated. The world started to move from under him as Valentino began to feel hot and dizzy.
"Enough of this bullshit!" Valentino snarled as he used his free hand to grasp the lighter and put out the flame. He tilted his wrist back to stop pouring the alcohol, gnashing his teeth angrily at being duped.
"How did I know you wouldn't follow the rules? Pathetic." Valentino shot a death glare to the voice from across the table watching him with a look of disdain. His arm swayed as he struggled to reposition his weapon to fire.
"This is Hell, princesa, fucking people over is the name of the game!" He sneered as he flexed his finger to pull the trigger.
BLAM!
.
..
…
The dragonfly demoness stared back, unamused, with eerie glowing golden eyes as a bullet hole in the couch smoldered lightly beside their head. At first, he thought his aim was off due to the dizziness, but Valentino looked down in confusion when he felt a sharp tension and saw that his wrist had been pulled to the side by lengths of red smoky chains pulled taut diagonally across the table. Following the chain length, he paled when the person across from him held the links around their fist.
"Hello, Val." Taylor said in a warm and familiar tone that belied the ferocious look in their eyes. The chains shattered easily in their grip like it was made of dry spaghetti. "Long time no see."
Angel Dust strolled down the staircase to the lobby, a compact in one hand as he made last minute adjustments to his hair and makeup.
"Angel, are you headed out for the evening?" Charlie asked from her place in the parlor, where she and Vaggie were going over her speech for the meeting with Heaven.
"Ya know it, doll-face!" Angel replied with a series of finger guns in her direction. "Val is off scouting for new talent, meaning yours truly has the night off! So, my gal pal Cherri and I are hitting the town and letting loose a bit!" He said excitedly as he sauntered over to the bar.
"Give me the usual, barkeep. I'm gonna start off strong tonight!" He requested with a dazzling smile toward Husk.
The gruff cat demon smirked before turning around to grab Angel's designated martini glass and start mixing his drink. Taking a seat, Angel Dust looked around idly.
"Anybody seen Fuoco? They're usually back by now. Was hoping to make the dynamic duo into a triple threat tonight!"
"Won't be back till late, they have that important business meeting, remember?" Husk reminded him before placing his drink in front of him.
"Riiight, with that big shot and all that. Well, damn, that's a crying shame." Angel drawled, a bit deflated. His phone buzzed and he fished it out of his chest fluff to answer it.
"Cherri, baby! Ready to hit up the clubs, get a little waste—" he started before he stopped to listen to the reply. "Whoa, whoa, sugar tits, I can't understand a word ya saying! Slow down, will ya?" He insisted, lifting the cocktail glass to his lips.
Everyone was startled when Angel Dust gave a spit take and started to choke on his drink. Slamming the glass on the counter and spilling the contents, he got up and tried to clear his airway.
"What the fuck, man?! Where's that famous gag reflex you went on about?" Husk barked as he got out the rag to clean up the mess.
"Charlie! TV!" Angel coughed as he stumbled over to the parlor, still attempting to clear his throat of alcohol.
"Angel, what's wrong?!" Charlie asked worriedly, the spider demon searching furiously through the parlor for something.
"Turn on the damn news! Where's the remote?!" He rasped. Vaggie quickly went to the ancient television and turned the knob, where the 666 news emblem and jingle finished playing on the screen and a tall and thin white-skinned demoness with red eyes and blonde hair cut in a bob and side swept bangs and a demon with an expressive gas mask with a sweep of ashen blonde hair appeared on the screen.
"Breaking news!" Katie Killjoy's overly chipper voice announced. A racy picture of a moth demon appeared above the two news anchors. "Reports are coming out of the east side that Valentino, Overlord of Lust and Addiction, owner and director of the Vees porn studios, and trigger-happy sex icon, is currently tangling with the enigmatic Dealbreaker Demon!"
"Ho-ly shit!" Angel Dust sputtered, eyes glued to the screen and mouth left hanging in utter shock.
"The Dealbreaker Demon hasn't been spotted since having their ass summarily handed to them by the very same Valentino and fleeing the scene at Club 666! How could they show their face after that complete failure!" Katie continued with a delighted face. Her co-anchor continued.
"Thus far only acting from the shadows, this is the first confirmed confrontation of the Dealbreaker Demon against an Overlord! Could this brazenness stem from a simple desire for revenge, or is it a wider political statement on the purported strength of the Vees?" Tom Trench posited, quirking one eyebrow questioningly before he was roughly shoved off screen by Katie.
"Nobody cares what you think, Tom! Now to the live feed!" She said without missing a beat as the broadcast cut to shaky camera footage.
"You think you can come here and threaten me? Me? I'll rip you apart, you fucking bitch!" A slightly disheveled Valentino screeched from his spot in front of the bar counter. He shot round after round from his dual pistols as Taylor approached, easily walking past the whizzing bullets with a determined expression.
The partygoers had quickly stampeded out when the moth demon recovered from his shock and lunged furiously across the table in his disoriented state. Matching his intensity, Taylor reared back and clocked the moth demon square in the teeth, sending both him and a gold tooth flying across the room, where the sharp fang landed in someone's drink with a satisfying plop. Now that they were mostly alone, they looked forward to giving Valentino what was coming to him.
But to do that, they had to get close enough.
With an unobstructed view of their target, their eyes glowed bright and flicked back and forth as they worked to incapacitate Valentino with their heat exhaustion ability while simultaneously redirecting bullets away.
Suddenly they had to jump aside to dodge a full bottle of liquor being thrown at them. The shattering of glass could be heard behind them as Taylor shook their head in annoyance at the waste.
Valentino reached back for more bottles from the bar space and lobbed them at Taylor in succession, but they were ready this time, making good use of their extra arms by catching whatever bottles they could and dodging the rest.
Taylor avoided a few more random bar items before Valentino saw his chance and pounced. Quickly dropping their cargo, they caught all of Valentino's claws in their own as the two wrestled to overpower the other. Because of the height difference, Valentino leaned down to peer over at Taylor and smiled with a manic expression.
"Think your ability makes you fucking special, like you're somehow above us? Sorry to burst your bubble, princess, you're just a bag of meat with holes, just like every other lowlife piece of shit in this dump." He hissed menacingly, pink drool beginning to roll down his chin as he pushed Taylor down a fraction. "I can't wait to knock you down a couple pegs until you're left shaking and crying like the whore you are. Then I'll fucking end your miserable existence, I swear to god!"
Taylor took in the threats for a moment before raising an eyebrow and scoffing. Valentino's smile faltered as his arms were steadily pushed back.
"Where are your manners, Val?" Taylor said coolly. In a flash, they took a forceful step forward, causing Valentino to lean back before Taylor slid to his side and swiftly kicked him in the back of the leg, forcing the moth demon down onto one knee and eye level with Taylor. Valentino grunted from the hit before glaring angrily over at the dragonfly demoness.
"You kneel when before royalty, remember?" Taylor reprimanded as they held Valentino's arms firmly, immobilizing him.
"You little—" Valentino's no doubt hatred-filled vitriol was cut off when Taylor ruthlessly kneed him in the face, shattering his heart-shaped glasses and slamming him back into the bar counter. Taylor turned to close the distance between the two of them.
Clutching his face as he rose with a wobble, Valentino's eyes glowed pink with wrathful fury and Taylor thought they heard angry squeaks come from the Overlord, making them chuckle in how oddly cute it sounded, pissing off Valentino even more.
"I'm gonna kill your whole fucking—" He yelped as he was grabbed by the collar roughly and pulled forward.
"Oh, shut up." Taylor uttered in an aggravated tone before tossing him to the floor, where he landed on his face.
"Tu… tu… malnacida…" Valentino sputtered angrily before he felt a solid foot on his back, pinning him down and keeping his wings from maneuvering.
Ignoring his desperate clawing at the floor and streak of obscenities directed at them, Taylor focused on the indisposed Overlord until four red hazy looking manacles appeared, one on each wrist, with innumerable paper-thin smoky chains attached. Grasping two bundles, they yanked back as they concentrated the silver flames to their palms. Within a minute, the chains splintered and the ground was clouded in red mist.
"No, no, no! Stop it, stop it! My deals, my power!" Valentino screamed in anguish as he tried to grasp the brume, only for it to pass through his claws.
Taylor shook off their momentary vertigo and moved onto the next two bunches when they paused, perplexed; another bunch of chains had manifested on the manacles they had just shattered. They grimaced in realization.
'Of course.' They chided themselves. 'If an Overlord can acquire thousands of souls, makes sense one round wouldn't do the trick. I better work fast.' Taylor thought as they wrenched the chains back harshly and snapped the links.
They didn't know for how long they went at it, but with each shattered bunch of chains, shared memories of Valentino's victims surfaced and bled together in a dolorous and recurring tale of depravity. Memories of being tricked into signing away their souls with false promises. Being forced to obey his every desire. Coerced into sleeping with creepy, gross, or violent clients. Every smack, every backhand, every kick, bruise, cut, and broken bone Valentino was responsible for played back in vivid detail in Taylor's mind until they were left shaking and on the edge of breaking from an acrid mixture of anger, heartache, and shame for taking so long to do something about it. Taking a ragged breath and wiping the tears from their eyes with their arm, they pressed their foot harder into where they knew the wailing moth man was in the thick red fog as Valentino made a renewed and frenzied attempt to escape his captor.
'Fuck you, Valentino.' They seethed as they picked up the next bunch of chains.
Taylor heard crackling in the air and felt their hair stand on end before they quickly leapt away from Valentino and crouched low to avoid an arc of electricity that traveled in their direction, disturbing the red haze around them. Scanning the area, their eyes narrowed when they spotted arcs of electricity jumping around two red eyes and a teal scowl in the distance.
"Get the fuck off my business partner, you soul-sucking son of a bitch!" Vox shouted, a furious expression on his screen.
"Voxy!" Valentino said brightly from his place on the ground.
Taylor's expression soured as they stood and started to heat up their hands.
"Oh yay, it's Vox." They muttered unenthusiastically to themselves. "Fuck my life. Why couldn't it have been Velvette?"
Taylor watched Vox phase into a stream of blue electricity and materialize next to Valentino, bolts of electricity arcing off his fists.
"Get the fuck up, Val," Vox growled contemptuously, not looking at the moth demon. "And don't think this means anything, you sack of shit. I'm only here because of how much revenue I'd lose if you were depowered."
"Whatever gets you there, baby." Valentino cooed teasingly as he got to his feet.
Taylor had hoped Vox would keep away from this encounter out of pure spite. Their intel said the two Overlords were on the outs with each other, so they felt it was worth the risk in tackling Valentino on their own. But with the electrokinetic Overlord, they had to change their strategy. Taylor knew from experience they couldn't chance Vox touching them, lest he halt their conscious processes and leave them vulnerable. Taylor clenched their jaw as they struggled to ready their only defense and keep an eye on the TV demon.
"I'd be careful where you toss those bolts, Vox." Taylor called out tensely. "Your buddy Val is covered in flammable material now. One wrong move and you can add giant bug zapper to your resume."
Vox quirked his eyebrow before quickly swiveling his head over at the moth demon and back at Taylor.
"Wouldn't be the worst thing I've done to him." Vox said nonchalantly as a smile crept along his screen.
A bit put off at the cavalier reply, Taylor didn't have time to dwell on it when Vox lifted his arm and sent arcs of electricity their way. Gauging the trajectory, Taylor put their hands up and with some well-timed sweeps, swatted the bolts away to the side. Wincing, their hands stung from the impacts, but the superheated blob in their palms did their job keeping them mostly unharmed.
They heard the telltale sound of bullets whizz by their head as they darted their eyes toward a grinning Valentino, who stood back shooting with one pistol in hand and a lit cigarette holder in the another. Taylor maintained Valentino in their periphery as Vox kept up the assault.
Taylor was forced to leap aside when too many arcs of electricity came at once, but a tug on their ankle sent them crashing to the floor, landing hard on their elbow and putting out a blob from their palm. Gritting their teeth as they rode out the initial surge of pain, they looked down and saw one of Valentino's solid smoke constructs had snaked across the floor and wrapped itself around their ankle, knocking them off balance.
Putting that issue on the back burner, they immediately rolled across the floor to avoid the guaranteed barrage of attacks their position invited. They weren't wrong; they heard several rapid-fire crackles and pops hit the ground in a line following their path until another pull on their ankle arrested their movement. Taylor caught sight of Valentino and Vox's predatory grins before the two took aim.
Thinking quickly, they diverted one of Valentino's bullets just as an arc grazed them in the shoulder, knocking the air out of them and extinguishing the last blob from their hand. The bullet must have hit Vox, as they heard the TV demon glitch out and cuss before he turned and screamed in Valentino's direction.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, VAL?!" Vox shouted angrily. "Are your eyes so bad you can't even keep your enemies and allies straight? You have one job, one job, and you can't even do that right!"
"Don't you start, you narcissistic motherfucker!" Valentino shot back as he stomped over and got in Vox's face. "It took me doing my job for you to even land a hit! Now stop being a little bitch and finish the job!"
While they bickered, Taylor got to their feet and breathed heavily as they caught their breath. Looking up, they saw the two were in position and distracted. Taking the gamble, they got into a runner's starting position and unfolded their wings. The four transparent wings buzzed softly as they got ready, and Taylor hovered for a moment before shooting forward toward the two arguing Overlords.
Flying low with their arm outstretched, Vox and Valentino realized too late that Taylor was on the move before the bottom corner of Val's wing was snagged and Taylor did a sharp hairpin turn, wrapping the two in the moth's wing tightly.
"You two should get close and talk it out." Taylor said as they kicked them to the floor for good measure and propelled themselves up to the ceiling. They swiped at the metal chain holding the crystal chandelier in place above Vox and Valentino's heads, cutting through the metal chain like a hot knife through butter.
Vox's eyes widened as he made to turn into electricity to run, but Val roughly gripped at his TV antennae and held on, keeping him in his solid form.
"Oh no, no, no!" Valentino spat, "I am not going to be the only one who gets things dropped on him. Turn me into electricity too, you fucker!"
"Val, let go!" Vox squirmed. "Now's not the time for this!"
"You always say that!"
Whatever Vox's retort was going to be was cut off when from their vantage point Taylor saw the chandelier crash onto the floor with a loud clatter of hundreds of crystals and the metal frame smashing into millions of pieces and scattering all over the floor.
Taylor hovered, scanned for movement, as they took a few rapid breaths before wiping their hair from their face. Alighting back on the ground, they spied the two Overlords face down and unmoving partially under the chandelier. Gingerly poking the two with their foot to confirm they were passed out, they checked their surroundings. Not far away, a swirling red orb about the size of a soccer ball hovered gently, undisturbed by the fracas. With a flick of their wrist, the sphere gently glided over to their side. With another cautionary prod to Vox, they focused on the two Overlords; in an instant, the red manacles and chains were back in view, along with a teal set from the TV demon.
Wasting no time, they grasped one bundle from each Overlord and jerked back roughly, keeping a close eye on Vox. They staggered slightly from the flashes of images before the chains shattered, adding a stream of teal mist to the swirling orb of energy at their side.
Erring on the side of caution, they took a few steps back and recovered as they let the sphere finish coalescing before approaching Vox again, checking that he was truly out each time before trying again.
After shattering six bundles, they began to relax when they noticed Valentino's bundles were getting increasingly thinner, giving them hope they were almost done. Using their hand to bring the red and teal sphere with them, they were stepping back when they saw in their periphery something snap forward and blue-tipped claws wrapped around their ankle. They zeroed in and saw arcs of electricity travel along Vox's hat antennae and head.
Their heart beat triple time as pure adrenaline coursed through their veins.
'When did he wake up?!' Taylor panicked.
There was no time to protect themselves. Putting their back foot on the floor, they made to wrench themselves free but it was too late.
Their whole body spasmed as who knows how many volts of electricity burned through their body. In the process, their hand jerked into a fist, and they absorbed the energy sphere. They cried out as they endured searing bolts of lightning tearing up their insides and just as quickly stitching themselves back together, only for it to happen over and over. Taylor's eyes rolled back, and their mouth foamed as their nerves were fried and subsequently repaired, leaving them shaking and convulsing until Vox released his grip and the current was cut.
Their eyes and ears smoked where they stood, feeling spent despite the invigorating thrum of energy snaking under their skin. Their legs gave out and they fell to their knees and leaned forward, their hands catching them before they face-planting onto the filthy floor. As they took heaving breaths, their mind was empty of thoughts.
"Holy shit." They heard Vox utter incredulously. "I ran enough power through you to run the whole damn tower and you're still alive? What in the Hell are you made of?"
A heady sensation hit them like a tsunami and Taylor started to giggle. Beginning as a titter, then a chuckle, but before long they were practically in stitches as they laughed uncontrollably from the euphoria that sent them on cloud nine.
Their jubilation was brought to an abrupt end when Vox kicked them in the face, snapping their neck to the side as they tasted blood in their mouth. They lifted their head and narrowed their eyes when they saw Vox standing over them, face contorted in rage.
"You think this is funny? That I'm a joke? I'll give you something to laugh about, you sick fuck!" Vox stomped the heel of his polished dress shoes into Taylor's hand, crushing their fingers and forcing a pained hiss from their throat.
"I gotta hand it to you! You really got the drop on me that time! I can count on my fingers the number of times I had this much trouble!" Vox ranted, stomping on their hands with each sentence.
Taylor's temper blazed wildly, threatening to boil over as it bubbled under their skin. Their eye twitched dangerously as the refusal to commit some of the unspeakable acts they'd read in their pyromancy books was holding on by a thread.
Stop fighting it. A dark voice whispered. Show him your power, make him an example, and others will come to fear you. Succumb and you won't have to hide anymore.
With imperceptible speed, a single flaming tendril shot forth and slammed Vox away before going out. Almost robotically, Taylor fluttered their wings, putting them on their feet and they heard Vox groan as he sat up. Spitting out the blood in their mouth, they addressed Vox.
"Enough." They said venomously and they slowly inched toward the TV demon. Taylor must have appeared unhinged and terrifying, as Vox's bravado instantly disappeared, and he began to shimmy across the floor backwards fearfully.
"N-now hold on," he stammered as he scrambled away. "You can take a joke, can't you? We can come to an agreement." When Taylor gave no response, he pleaded. "Whatever it is you have planned, you don't want to do this."
Taylor stopped in front of Vox, golden eyes glowing menacingly as it stared straight into his.
"Yes, I do." They said monotonously, as if bloodlust shrouded their rational thoughts.
Vox's right eye opened wide, the pupil becoming a cyan electric symbol as a black spiral swirled hypnotically.
"No, you don't." He said, voice low and distorted.
Taylor tried to look away, but they were caught in the trance like a hook to a fish's mouth. They held their head, ignoring the pain of their injured hands and cried out, their mind burning like the hottest fire-pit in Hell.
"Forget yourself. Surrender your mind." Vox urged as Taylor's vision became a kaleidoscope of hypnotic colors and they grit their teeth. They tried to squeeze their eyes shut and fought to regain control, but the spell gripped them tighter than a vice.
Try as they might, they couldn't get free. Taylor felt their shoulders slump and their hands drop before they only saw black and white static in front of them.