7

The next morning, Isobel woke tired. She had yet another restless night. She laid staring at the ceiling for a while debating her options. She could stay there and pretend that she was sleeping for another hour or so, or she could get up early. She decided on the ladder and groaned as she rolled out of bed.

Dressed again in her hooded jacket, jeans, and boots, she thought to herself that she should try to get another change of clothes. How would one go about purchasing clothes in Hell? She doubted that her credit card would work. It was definitely something she would need to inquire about. She had been washing her clothes as well as she could manage, but she was afraid they would start to smell soon, or fall apart.

She managed to be down stairs and out the door without encountering anyone else, and was thankful for a long quiet morning at the library. However, by mid-day her stomach was growling, reminding her that she had skipped breakfast. So Isobel tossed The Hate You Give and Out of Darkness into her bag, and set off to return to the hotel.

When she arrived, she found it as empty as the previous night.

Alastor, Charlie, and Vaggie had gone off on some official hotel business, a desperate attempt to convince more sinners to stay and give their fate up to the Princess of Hell. Since Isobel had arrived a handful of people had checked in and spent their days trying to write wrongs that they themselves were not entirely sure they were sorry for, but traffic was slow.

Angel was sleeping off the night before, whatever that might have been. He never really got up before noon anyway. Husker was somewhere in a drunken stupor, and Nifty… Well, that was anybody's guess.

Isobel made herself a sandwich in the kitchen and then brought it out to the lobby. The lighting was better in the large open room. She sat at the bar and ate while reading. She had just finished her lunch when she heard the front door open behind her. She turned to greet what she thought would be a familiar face, but was instead stunned into silence.

There, walking through the doors, illuminated by the colored light of the stained glass, was the most handsome man Isobel had ever seen. Sure, he was dressed in an impeccably tailored white suit resembling that of a ringmaster, and he had a huge top hat to match, but look at that face. Given the chance, Isobel would definitely kiss that face. She would kiss it a lot. Plus, she always had a thing for blondes.

He stopped and surveyed the lobby, seemingly disappointed that no one was there. Then his eyes fell on Isobel. He was not expecting the presence of a stranger, and it caught him off guard a little.

"Oh, uh, hello there." He gave a little wave.

Aw, Isobel thought. He was kind of awkward and cute. She wondered what he would do if she tried to hug him. She shook her head a little. Get a hold of your fucking self.

"Hello," she answered back, sounding far more natural than she felt. "I'm sorry, no one from the staff is here right now."

"That's a shame," he said. "I was actually looking for my daughter, Charlie."

"Oh, Charlie's your daughter… OH," realization hit her like a brick. "Charlie is your daughter."

"Yes, she said she needed to speak to me about a problem, I assumed it had to do with the hotel."

"Well," Isobel stood up and offered her hand. She was only slightly surprised that she met him pretty much eye to eye. "Allow me to introduce myself, Isobel, the problem in question."

He took her hand to shake it, but upon touch, felt a familiar tingle climb his arm. Isobel felt tingles too, but of a different nature.

"Oh, golly, you are not a sinner, are you?" he said laughing uncomfortably.

"Good eye, I am not."

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "I've had some experience with living, human… women." He flashed her a smile that was so charming that Isobel didn't even care that all his teeth were pointed.

She responded almost dreamily, "Yeah, I've heard the stories."

"Really?" he suddenly sounded a little concerned. "Uh, what have you heard?"

"Oh, the usual. Fallen angel, first to defy God, wants to corrupt all human souls with evil."

"You know most of that is very exaggerated."

"You don't have to tell me. Until very recently I thought the whole thing was a bunch of crap anyway, so no judgment here. Besides, Oscar Wilde said that disobedience is man's original virtue." Isobel's brow furrowed as her trail of thought went sideways. "Now that I think of it, I bet he's in Hell too." Lucifer laughed at her musings and she smiled at him trying her best to be just as charming.

"So tell me, Isobel," he said sitting at the bar next to her. He, after all, had time to kill while waiting for Charlie to return, might as well spend it with company. "What brings a living soul, like yourself, to Hell?"

"Ah, therein lies the problem." She spent the next 45 minutes explaining her strange appearance in Hell and all that had happened since she arrived. He listened attentively, asked many questions, and Isobel found him to be an utter delight. She also found that as they chatted she was able to get over her initial, instant enamoration and calm down a bit. Though, It did make sense. Who wouldn't immediately adore an angel?

Their talking went on for longer than either realized. Isobel felt completely at ease and hung on every word he said. Lucifer was just happy to find someone that spoke to him with a casual ease. That kind of conversation was a hard thing to find as a king, or as someone that avoided people in general and spoke mostly only to his daughter and the occasional rubber duck.

"I'll tell you what," he finally said. "I'm certainly not Heaven's favorite person, especially right now. But this may be an issue that they actually would want to hear about. So I'll see what I can do to help."

Isobel clapped her hands together with excitement.

"Oh, my gosh, really? I would be forever grateful." She reached out, offering her hand again, which he gladly shook.

"My pleasure."

This is how Charlie found them, hand in hand, Isobel with a wide dopey grin, as she returned to the hotel flanked by Alastor and Vaggie.

Charlie seemed a little down. She had been yet again unsuccessful in convincing any one that her plan was viable. Days like this were always frustrating and keeping an optimistic attitude was challenging. But her expression lit up when she saw Lucifer.

"Oh, hey, Dad." She said waving from the door. He seemed just as happy to see her.

"Charlie! There you are." He crossed to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She had to bend down to receive it. "I'm sorry I've been out of contact, but you know, things… come up." He waved his hand, obviously not wanting to go into detail. The two walked away followed by Vaggie, deep in their own conversation.

Alastor crossed to Isobel, still sitting at the bar.

"Salutations, Isobel."

"Good afternoon, Alastor." After the previous night, Isobel had decided to stop avoiding Alastor. She realized that it was no use. He would always be haunting the periphery, and it would be better (and probably more fun) to go toe to toe. "I hope you had a pleasant day."

"Indeed, I did. The failures of others resulting in yet another lost morsel of self esteem is always amusing. I see you've made the acquaintance of his Royal Majesty." Isobel thought she detected a sense of contempt in his tone, but decided to ignore.

"I did," Isobel practically sighed. "Vaggie was right, he is really nice. And best of all, he said he would try to help me."

"Bully for you." Alastor did not hide his disapproval. He had just gotten Isobel to stop avoiding him. How could he manipulate her if all his hard work was to be thwarted by a diminutive fool? "It seems strange that someone stuck in Hell, as you are, would be so quick to trust those around you." Isobel looked at him quizzically. "We are, after all, demons. That includes our gracious monarch."

"It's not like I really have a choice." Isobel looked over her shoulder at Charlie and Lucifer. "Plus, isn't he really an angel? He seems sweet, and kind of sad, actually." She turned back to Alastor and shrugged. "I have a soft spot for sad things."

"Of course he's sad. Exiled from Heaven, wife left him, estranged daughter."

"They don't look estranged."

"A recent development. But if you look at the common denominator of all those situations you are left with…" Alastor waved his hand leaving Isobel to come to the inevitable conclusion. At that moment a realization came over her, and she leaned in closer, suddenly very interested.

"Oh," she said in an almost sing-songy voice. "You don't like him, do you? I mean, like, for personal reasons."

"Don't be ridiculous. I am simply trying to warn you of potential dangers, as it were."

"Sure you are." She eyed him up and down. "Now I have to figure out if there is a real reason you don't like him, or if you two are just having some sort of pissing contest."

"How very vulgar of you."

"And to think, I censor myself when you're around." She gave him a big, toothy grin, though it did not compare to the smile he gave back. "Look, he's the only one around with the power and influence to actually get me back where I belong." Alastor did not like that answer at all.

"If I were you, I would exercise caution with who you associate with."

"Noted, but I'm probably just going to do what I want to do. So just drop it." Isobel was now getting annoyed. The conversation was getting dangerously close to someone telling her what to do. She did not do well with advice from others, whether solicited or not. For some reason that not even Isobel could understand, it got her hackles up and usually resulted in her doubling down on a bad decision.

"Yes, but if you ask me…"

"I'm not asking you," Isobel smiled again, trying her best to control her irritation. "And I am now bored with this conversation, so I'm going to leave." Here she was, having a fun banter back and forth, and he had to go and ruin it. She turned to leave, but as she did Alastor reached out and wrapped his long fingers around her arm.

"I don't think you understand," he began, but Isobel was beyond listening. Her bicep contracted under his touch and a white hot rage suddenly boiled as her mind flashed back to the last time a man grabbed her arm like that.

"Enough!" The moment the word passed her lips she knew it was too loud and far more angry than she intended. All other conversations stopped in the lobby and heads turned toward her. She should stop there. Just apologize and leave. Everything in her brain screamed at her to make the better decision. Don't burn a bridge before you've even crossed it. But Isobel's past was littered with smoldering bridges. She was in it now and could not stop her temper or her mouth. "I don't know who you think you are, but you don't own my soul, so you have no say in what I do or who I do it with. So shut up. And if you ever grab me like this again we're going to have problems."

Alastor's eyes narrowed. It took everything in him to not destroy her on the spot. With one snap of his fingers she would be no more than yet another stain on the carpet that Nifty would happily clean up. But he was always in control of his emotions and reminded himself that she was ignorant. Just a stupid girl stuck in a strange place. She did not know how in over her head she was. She did not know to be afraid of him. He would have to remedy that soon. Put her in her place.

Slowly, one by one, Alastor released his fingers, but said nothing. Once free, Isobel stormed off. He thought he saw a subtle hint of regret in her eyes as she turned away. Good.

Charlie chased after her out of the lobby all the while asking if she was ok, and what happened.

The sound of throat clearing came from Alastor's elbow and he looked down to see Lucifer standing next to him nonchalantly leaning on his cane also watching the two women leave.

"That was embarrassing for you," Lucifer said.

"Oh, good, you're here." Alastor did not even try to hide his sarcasm and disdain.

"I hope that didn't have anything to do with me." Lucifer said, leaning on his cane and pretending to examine his fingernails.

"I am sure I do not know what you mean."

"I would understand, though," Lucifer continued, obviously ignoring everything Alastor said. "I do have a certain reputation when it comes to women."

Alastor flashed his teeth and glared down at Lucifer, who simply looked up with the most charming of smiles.

"If you will excuse me." Alastor growled as he dissolved into shadow and slunk away leaving Lucifer smug and chuckling to himself.