Author note: welcome back loyal readers! Technically we've started delving into the main series, chronologically anyway, and I'm excited. What shenanigans will Taylor get into with Alastor around? Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Filming a commercial
Taylor scrambled to their closet and threw on a knee length red skirt, a black short sleeve blouse, black leggings and shoes, and a white jacket. Jumping to the bathroom, they freshened up for the day. Gazing at their reflection, they were astounded that they look well rested despite not sleeping the whole night. 'Do I separate from my body when my patron visits? But then why do I wake up with cuts? Argh, too confusing and not enough time!' they thought exasperated. They tried teased down their fiery looking locks to sit in a somewhat neat fashion, but no matter what they did it, always flared up slightly to Taylor's annoyance. Grabbing their wallet, phone, and key, they headed downstairs.
Alastor was waiting near the door, humming along to a lively tune when Taylor saw him. He looked at his pocket watch as Taylor walked up and he admonished,
"There's our resident firebrand! Hmm, 14 minutes and 45 seconds to get down here, clearly punctuality isn't your forte! Tut tut!"
"I said 15 minutes, by all accounts I'm on time!"
"You know what they say, 'early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable!'" He replied as he twirled his microphone behind his back and opened the door. "Shall we?"
Taylor rolled their eyes and followed the red demon out the door. Making their way down the hill, Taylor was curious.
"So, what's the plan for this commercial? What kind of shots are we going to take?"
"We will be going into town to film Sinners and invite them to the hotel, along with shots showing the destruction that potential guests would want to leave behind. Then, we will film examples of the hotel's amenities and its goals. I also plan to get some testimonials from the two residents to seal the deal, so to speak. Ha ha!" He said with a wink and a laugh track in the background.
That all sounded normal enough, but Taylor was still suspicious of Alastor's true game plan. As they walked around Pentagram City, Taylor grimaced at all the corpses strewn about and the burning or ravaged buildings. It made Taylor wonder if Sinners genuinely deserved this kind of brutality at the hands of Heaven. Seeing a view of the damaged cityscape that looked good for the commercial, Taylor called out to the Radio Demon.
"Alastor, how about this for the destruction shot you wanted? It definitely is something I'd want to get away from." They had a thought as they glanced around the Overlord. "By the way, how are we filming this?"
Alastor looked over at what Taylor was indicating and his grin widened. "Exceptional, a perfect shot indeed!" He snapped his fingers and an old video recorder appeared in his hand that he tossed to Taylor. "Go ahead and capture the shot!" Taylor nodded and got to work. From there, they went about the city stopping demons in the street to film them and ask about the hotel. Many shots had to be redone when the Radio Demon was recognized, causing Sinners to scream and run for the hills. With the city shots filmed, they made their way back to the hotel together. Alastor's jazzy tune played while they walked, and Taylor got curious again.
"Do you take song requests? I'll stick to jazz if you prefer."
The Radio Demon's music stopped with a screech as he looked back and narrowed his eyes, grin dropped a fraction.
"As a rule, I don't take suggestions, but humor me with your request."
"How about Stardust by Louis Armstrong? It's been recorded by so many artists, but his version is the best."
Eyes raising in surprise, Alastor seemed to consider the idea before turning and continuing their walk. Taylor followed behind for a block as they heard Alastor's stations shifted around until the trumpet tones of Stardust began to play. Taylor smiled and hummed along appreciatively. Alastor chuckled quietly as they kept on their journey.
Passing an alleyway, Taylor felt a rough arm wrap around their chest and mouth, pulling them back onto a hard surface. Startled by the abruptness, Taylor looked up to see a ferocious looking eagle demon leering down at them.
"Scream and I'll tear your fucking throat out" he whispered as he dragged them back into the alley.
Taylor should have been afraid, but they felt nothing. Perhaps it was because they had dealt with more dangerous demons before, or because they knew they could handle this situation. But as the eagle started to grope Taylor's hip and chest, they felt outrage come to life inside them. They started to shake in bubbling anger, which the eagle demon took to mean their target was scared witless. "Don't worry, sweet thing. I'll make you feel real good." They purred in Taylor's ear. The eagle demon heard muffled words come in response, so they partially removed their hand.
"What was that, sweet thing?"
Dripping with fury, Taylor repeated themselves.
"Hands off or you'll regret it." Taylor started to feel hot as their anger was reaching a tipping point.
"Aww, you don't want to play with me? Well, guess what? I take what I want, and your ass is mine!" They jeered as they continued squeezing Taylor lewdly.
Taylor felt a snap in their head, and then saw white. In a flash, they grabbed the eagle's arm and threw them over their shoulder, slamming them onto the concrete floor. The eagle demon coughed painfully as the wind was taken out of them, and looked up in surprise at the smaller demon's face contorted in rage. Their hair and antennae were billowing like a blaze and their eyes were glowing yellow as green fire started to appear around them and the air smelled smoky.
"Didn't you learn to keep your hands to yourself?" Taylor said threateningly. The eagle demon tried to swipe at them with their claws in response, but Taylor evaded easily. The eagle demon stood up as they glared back.
"You stupid bitch, you think you're tough shit? When I'm done with you, you'll be begging-!"
"SHUT UP!" Taylor roared, causing the windows above them to shatter and glass to rain down on the two. The eagle demon covered their ears while moving to evade the falling glass as they felt a searing sharp pain in their wrists and heard two thuds. They looked down and their hands were severed and laying on the ground. The eagle screamed as they held their cauterized stubs. "Now you won't be hurting anyone with those disgusting hands anymore! In fact, you won't be doing much of anything!" they heard a gravelly voice as they saw their fiery would-be target stalk toward them, looking murderous. The eagle tried backing away but were seized by the throat by the walking inferno.
The eagle demon tried to punch and kick at Taylor but screamed in pain as they were being burned on contact. Taylor grinned devilishly straight into the eagle demon's eyes as they uttered gleefully, "Do go ahead and scream all you like, that kind of music I enjoy! Now burn!" At once the eagle demon was overtaken by purple flames, causing them to shriek and writhe as they burned away. Taylor started to giggle maniacally as they watched the violet flames burn the demon to ash. When there was nothing left, Taylor stood there, arm outstretched and chest heaving as they slowly reverted back. The flames around them extinguished and their hair and eyes fell back to their normal forms. It was only when things cooled down that Taylor came back to consciousness and their eyes darted around in confusion. They stared at their hands, alarmed. 'What just happened? I remember seeing white and yelling, but what else? Where's the eagle demon?'
Taylor was pulled from their thoughts when they heard a recorded sound of applause as Alastor manifested from the shadows, arms waving dramatically.
"What a performance! It had everything! Danger! Action! Raw power! Emotion! I haven't been that entertained since our dear Charlie's disaster on the picture show! Hats off to you, my friend!" They bowed with a flourish.
Taylor stared at the Radio Demon dumbfounded. "You were there the entire time? Why didn't you help?"
"Why would I? You had things handled and took care of that ruffian in a fantastic display! Of course, I would have stepped in if things went too far, I did promise to keep the hotel's residents safe after all!" With a twirl of his microphone, he gently nudged Taylor out of the alleyway. "Now that that business is taken care of, let's continue on back to the hotel to finish the commercial! Time waits for no demon!"
Taylor numbly followed the Radio Demon away from the alley and back to the hotel. The whole way back Taylor's thoughts raced, but were coming up blank on details. Once they arrived, the others were stunned to see Taylor covered in small cuts, singed clothes, sprinkled with shards of broken glass, and generally looking roughed up. Taylor hadn't even noticed the glass until they touched their cheek and their fingers came back red. Husk rushed to get the first aid kit as Nifty started sweeping the glass away around Taylor. Vaggie glared accusingly toward Alastor, who stood by nonchalantly.
"What the fuck happened shitlord? You're supposed to keep residents safe and look at them!"
"I assure you dear Vagatha, our fiery friend here had things well in hand and I didn't need to step in! Besides, everyone here knows how to hold their own, what kind of disservice would I be doing if I coddled our newcomer?" Alastor replied innocently.
Charlie walked over to Taylor worriedly.
"Are you okay?"
Not wanting to worry Charlie, Taylor put on a bright smile. "I'm fine Charlie, Alastor is right. I had things under control by the time he showed up. They just got the jump on me."
They suddenly felt Nifty lift them in a Herculean display and shake Taylor upside down, causing glass to fall to the floor. Depositing Taylor back on the ground, they quickly swept up the rest of the glass and darted off. Taylor took a moment to regain their balance before Husk showed up, first aid kit in hand.
"It's fine Husk, it's only minor cuts."
"Kid, I still want to check you out for anything serious. Come over to the kitchen." Husk ordered.
"Ooh, me too! I want to play doctor with Taylor too, rawr!" Angel chimed in.
Taylor rolled their eyes as they followed Husk to the kitchen. Vaggie, Charlie, and Angel trailed behind, worried for their friend. Husk indicated Taylor sit a on a barstool as they started setting out their supplies. Once done, they methodically felt each of Taylor's legs and nodded as they didn't find anything major.
"Take off your shirt, I need to make sure you didn't get any glass lodged in you." Taylor heard Angel whoop as they removed their jacket and blouse, earning a gasp from present company.
"Damn, Fuoco, when did you get ripped? Now I'm really looking forward to you cashing in your freebie, handsome!" Angel said appreciatively.
"Angel, cut it out. Shit, Taylor, you got some glass in your side!" Vaggie scolded before sounding alarmed. Taylor looked down and only now noticed that they did seem to have put on some muscle. 'Is this because of the mark?' They wondered. Then they did indeed see they had three finger-sized shards of glass partially buried in their rib area. They didn't even feel it until they touched one gingerly, causing them to hiss in pain.
"Alright, looks like I've got work to do. Princess, can you fill a bowl with hot water and lay out the gauze from the kit for me? I'll sanitize the tweezers." Husk asked.
Taylor looked up and saw Charlie looking pale and stunned silent. Reaching out a hand, they said reassuringly, "Charlie. Don't worry, I hardly even feel it." That seemed to bring Charlie back as they nodded and went to get the water for Husk. When things were all set, Husk set to work pulling the shards out swiftly, causing Taylor to gasp sharply in pain, and pressing gauze down on the wounds to stem the bleeding. Once that was done, Husk sewed all the injures closed before taking care to sanitize the minor cuts. Taylor laughed quietly as they spoke, "I guess I'm gonna have to start tipping you for your medical skills too, eh Husk?" The cat demon just chuckled as they finished up. Taylor put their blouse back on carefully.
"Taylor, tell us what happened." Charlie finally spoke. Taylor looked down, trying to recall details but they only saw brief flashes of recollection before it flitted away. With a sigh, they answered.
"I don't remember much, honestly. I was walking back to the hotel behind Alastor, and some eagle demon grabbed me from behind and dragged me away. I warned him to back off, but when he started groping me, I just snapped. Next thing I know, I'm alone in the alley and then Alastor showed up. He said it was quite the performance, so maybe they got away? But I don't know."
The room was quiet as they processed the information. Finally, Charlie laid a hand on Taylor's shoulder and smiled.
"What's important is you got back and they got the message to back off.
"Yeah, remind me to stay on yer good side, Fuoco." Chimed in Angel.
Taylor got up as Alastor walked in with the video camera in hand. Passing it back to Taylor, they grinned darkly.
"Don't you worry about that nasty assailant; I sent one of my shadow familiars to track him down and he will be dealtwith by yours truly!"
That put Taylor at ease as they were relieved they hadn't murdered anyone. Taking the camera, they moved into the lobby and got back to work after convincing Charlie and Vaggie they were fine. Opting to compartmentalize what happened for later, they threw themselves into filming the commercial. Taylor shot Nifty darting around leaving a spotless room, Husk meticulously making a mixed drink before shrinking away when they saw Taylor, and Vaggie and Charlie manning the front desk side by side and looking professional. They managed to rope Angel into giving a serious scripted testimonial by bribing them with money. Finally, they went back outside the hotel and filmed the exterior. Satisfied with their work, they trudged up the hill and sought out Alastor.
Meanwhile, Alastor sat tensely in the armchair of his room, mulling over the afternoon's events. They had noticed immediately when Taylor was snagged by the reprehensible brute, but wanted things to play out a bit before stepping in and perhaps getting an ins into a deal from there. They sank into the shadows and watched nearby as Taylor warned the eagle to back off, and grimaced at the untoward threats they got back. If things started to go in that direction, they'd step in immediately, he was a gentleman of course.
But to his surprise the firebrand shoulder flipped the larger demon and started changing to the fiery form he recalled from their previous encounter. But this time the heat was more intense along with the anger. Alastor saw that Taylor seemed to fly off the handle and screeched at the eagle's words, followed by slicing both hands off cleanly. Thinking quickly, he brought out the video camera and started filming the encounter. The flaming demon then grabbed the eagle by the throat and seemed to revel in their prey's suffering. Then the wretched creature was cast ablaze with violet flames and even from where he hid, the heat licked at his shadow form, causing him to back off to a safer distance.
Before long the wretch was only a pile of ash as they observed Taylor come down from their power high. Only after they seemed to come to their senses did he stash the video camera and make his appearance. Before they left the alley, Alastor's shadows collected the severed hands and tucked them away for later. Next, while Taylor was being tended to, he teleported into his room and made a copy of his secret filming before deleting it from the camcorder. The final nail in the coffin was telling everyone he would deal with the perpetrator. Alastor grinned darkly as the area around him distorted and his antlers grew to multiple points. He had his leverage, all he had to do was wait for the right moment.