Author note: Welcome back, readers, so glad to be posting a new chapter. Decided to give Taylor a break and keep them around the hotel, but their vacation will be over soon enough. Thanks for taking time to follow along, enjoy!
Chapter 16: Airing out grievances.
When Taylor came to, they were not in their room. In fact, they weren't in any place they recognized. They scanned forward and the place was bright with a orange-hued sky and undulating hills of clouds below them, tinted a kaleidoscope of oranges, maroons, and purples.
'Wait, clouds below me?' they reeled. They further gazed into the horizon and saw gleaming golden gates and white rings above a city scape peeking out of the clouds. The skyscrapers looked pristine and clean, contrasting with the buildings they were used to in Pentagram City. 'Heaven? No way! There's no way I ascended already!' they thought in a daze. Taylor tried to turn their body but were unable to. 'Why am I paralyzed? Nothing is working!' They struggled, butall they could move were their eyes, so they gave up, tried to calm their racing mind, and waited until something happened.
After a few moments of gazing into the cloud scape, they started to notice a flittering feeling in their stomach and their heart started to race. Taylor had felt this way before, but it took a moment to place it. 'Nervousness?' To their surprise, their hands started to move on their own volition, but the hands were not theirs. Two black clawed hands appeared into their view, as they clasped together. 'Uhh, those aren't mine! But they feel like my own?'
"May I have a gracious first of many days with my Phim" they heard a light silvery voice come from their throat. 'A Phim? First of many days? Who is this?' Taylor wondered. They felt their body turn and glide across the clouds, the wind gently caressing their face as the destination seemed to be already predetermined.
After a minute or two of travel, they slowed, and Taylor saw a figure in the distance. They approached the being from behind, but they immediately noticed three sets of white wings gently folded against a smaller figure in a white outfit and top hat that covered a bit of blonde hair. Their halo was golden and hovered around the brim of their hat. They seemed to be pouring over a stack of parchment and tinkering with something, but Taylor's view was obscured. 'An angel! Oh, what did Charlie call the ones with six wings again?' Taylor thought as they wracked their brain from their Hell lesson. They felt themselves bow, and while they lost their view of the angel, they saw that they themselves were wearing a white robe that was long enough to hide their feet.
"Greetings, my Phim! I come to you as your attendant, a Nim to help serve and assist you in your duties." They spoke respectfully.
'Nim? Phim? What do these words mean?' Taylor wondered. They raised their head as the angel before them stirred. They stood and turned to face them. A slender man with alabaster skin, pink, rosy cheeks, short blonde hair, and blue eyes with black pupils stood before them. He had a roguish smile that made their chest flutter suddenly. 'I suppose he is rather attractive looking.' Taylor admitted, though they didn't feel the same as their body did. He wore a slim fitting white suit with golden coattails on the underside with gold accents around the cuffs and collar, golden buttons and cufflinks, and a gray bow tie and dress shoes. The angel puffed his chest out and spoke strictly.
"It's about time! So, you're the poor Nim who got assigned to me!" He chuckled. "You ready to work your fingers to the bone? I'll warn you, I'm a merciless boss and do not tolerate failure!"
Taylor felt their body tense and their stomach turn in knots.
"Y-Yes, of course my Phim! Whatever you require, I-I shall perform to your satisfaction!" They said with a tremor in their voice. The angel gazed at them with a critical look for a moment, before bursting into laughter.
"Oh, I'm just kidding, Nim! You should have seen your reaction!" He wiped a tear from his eye before settling down. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I am glad you're here though, this paperwork the Council gave me gets in the way of my creative time and could use a helping hand!"
They felt their body relax as they laughed awkwardly. The butterfly sensation came back to their stomach, but it was much less intense.
"Of course! Whatever you require, leave that to me! I'll condense it down to the main points." They said excitedly. They tilted their body to see the papers and the object nearby. "What are you working on?" they inquired, feeling a bit apprehensive.
"Excellent!" They looked back at the cloud serving as a desk. "I'm working on a proposal for an animal to add to the Garden." The angel moved over to the cloud, snatched the item quickly, and brought it back to them energetically, like a child showing off a new toy. It looked like a clay figurine with a large round body, a long neck that had a beak at the end, and large webbed feet. It also had three sets of wings. They felt a sense of awe at the elegance.
'Huh, it looks like a swan, but with extra wings. Wow, imagine if we had those in the world!' Taylor mused, getting caught up in the feeling of wonder their body was experiencing.
"It's wonderful! And it pays homage to the Phims! I have no doubt they will love it!" they praised.
"Isn't it though? It's not quite finished yet, but I have so many ideas that I barely have time to write them all down! Now, let's get down to work as I finish this baby up!" The angel said passionately.
They felt their body nod enthusiastically as they glided over to the stack of papers. The angel sat beside them and continued to fiddle with his figurine. Taylor listened to his proposals for the Garden project as their body poured over the papers, making notes every so often. Many of the angel's proposals involved adding wings to accepted creatures, such as a horse with wings, or adding aspects to make things convenient, like trees that always bore fruit. Taylor paid no mind to the writings but instead focused on the passionate discourse of the angel beside them.
After chatting and laughing for what felt like hours, the paperwork was finished, and they stood up together. The angel beamed at them as they felt a hand on their shoulder.
"Ha ha ha, I feel like we're gonna get along perfectly!" He said boisterously. Taylor felt their face get warm. 'Are we blushing?' they wondered. The angel turned to gaze at the horizon, contemplative. "You think they will like the proposals?" He asked tentatively.
The heat in their face grew hotter as they answered.
"Y-yes! They will certainly lo- "
"Hello loyal listeners! It's your devilishly debonair host, back with another series of melodious screams, courtesy of some loathsome ingrate who couldn't keep their filthy hands to themselves! Stay tuned!"
Taylor jerked awake at the abrupt loud voice, heart pounding as they sprang upright and quickly scanned their surroundings. They were back in their room, and Taylor leaned back in relief at the familiarity. Turning their head, a vintage radio sat on their nightstand, filling the room with the shrill shrieks of terror and pleas for mercy.
'What the hell? Since when do I have a radio? Was that Alastor just now?' they thought grumpily. Rubbing their eyes, they remembered the dream. 'What was that? It was like I was watching a movie, but I was taking part in it. And who were they?' Taylor contemplated.
Taylor was torn from their thoughts when they heard a knock and Angel's voice at the door.
"Hey Fuoco, ya decent? Charlie's calling fer us, so get that sexy tuchus downstairs!"
"Thanks Angel, I'll be right out!" They called out.
They rushed around and put on a navy blue skort, gray T-shirt, and a white jacket. Dashing to the bathroom, they arranged their yellow and orange hair into a side part with a braid along one side. Satisfied, they collected their things and ran downstairs.
Everyone except Alastor was gathered in the kitchen area amid breakfast. Taylor grabbed some food before sitting beside Charlie and Vaggie. Taylor greeted the two demonesses before addressing them.
"Hey guys, do you think after breakfast we can talk? I tried to find you last night, but you went to bed."
"Oh! Sure thing, Taylor! We wanted to talk to you too!" Charlie said brightly.
"What's the problem? Is Alastor harassing you again?" Vaggie asked accusingly.
"Not right now anyway." they said, not wanting to delve into last night's standoff with the Radio Demon.
The rest of the meal passed by peacefully, Angel flirted with Husk, who largely ignored him; Charlie chatted with Sir Pentious about his plans to move into the hotel, with Vaggie rejecting plans to bring in weapons. Taylor listened to Nifty regale them about her latest roach puppet show production, to which Taylor graciously accepted an invite to opening night. After the dishes were cleared, everyone dispersed for the day.
Taylor made their way to Charlie's office and after seeing the door was open, knocked on the doorway.
"Taylor, come on in!" Charlie called out. Charlie was seated at her desk with Vaggie standing beside her. Taylor took a seat opposite the two and took a breath before starting:
"I wanted to talk to you about Angel." Taylor said seriously.
"What is it now? Is he harassing you too?" Vaggie groaned.
"No, quite the opposite really. He's been a true friend since my arrival. I wanted to let you know he has been making strides to improve." Taylor explained.
"Improve how, Taylor?" Charlie asked, encouraging.
Taylor frowned, choosing their words carefully.
"Soon after I got here, I had a night terror and I… ended up injuring myself badly. I was still in the throes when Angel found me and woke me up. He patched me up and comforted me. He's been keeping me under his wing since then, and it has been great."
Charlie and Vaggie were alarmed with the news but didn't say anything.
"So, my point is, don't say that he isn't trying. Yes, he messes up sometimes, but isn't this a place for second chances?"
The two demonesses looked away in shame. Charlie then stared back at Taylor with a determined expression.
"Thanks for letting us know. We'll give him credit where it's due from now on." Her expression then turned to worry. "But why didn't you let us know about the night terror? We could have helped! Honesty is a vital part of redemption."
"I didn't want to worry you. It hasn't happened since then, so I thought it was just a one-time deal."
"What was it about?" Vaggie asked quietly.
"Flashback of my death." Taylor said plainly.
"That is a good transition to what we wanted to talk to you about. We want to begin individual therapy sessions, and we want to start with you. I think this night terror would be a good place to begin."
Taylor groaned at the prospect. They couldn't be entirely truthful thanks to their patron, and thinking of the past just agitated them. However, they knew if they didn't address their issues, they wouldn't get redeemed and out of their arrangement. If it was part of the program, they had no choice but to improvise.
"Fine, but not today please." they huffed.
Charlie chimed in, "that's okay! We can start in a few days!" In a calmer tone, she added. "Thank you for confiding in us. We will keep things confidential, even from Alastor."
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Taylor got up left the office.
An hour later, Taylor was in the ballroom, practicing creating weapons out of fire. They sat on the floor reading instructions from a book.
"Okay, let's try this one." Taylor said aloud to themselves. They stood up and produced a red flame in their hand. They tensed as they focused. The flame split into tendrils, and they weaved around itself as it grew outwards, and the tip compressed to a fine point. Taylor clenched their palm, and they now brandished a fire spear. "Yes! First try!" Taylor whooped. Taylor swung and twirled it around, testing the feel. Even though they never held a weapon in their life, they jabbed and thrusted in a practiced fluid motion. 'I guess the mark is responsible for this too. At least I won't have to do a training montage like in the movies.' they contemplated with a grin.
"Nice moves there!" Vaggie's voice echoed from across the room, startling Taylor with a yelp.
"Sorry! I didn't hear you back there!" Taylor responded, a little flustered as the demon walked over.
"Sorry about that." Vaggie rubbed the back of her neck anxiously as she asked. "This might sound strange, but would you be interested in sparring with me?"
Taylor blinked for a moment, a little surprised at the question. Still a bit bewildered, they answered.
"Umm, sure? But I'm not- whoa!" Before they could finish their response, Vaggie had summoned her spear and thrusted it forward without warning. Taylor barely had enough time to move without getting skewered. Taylor swung their spear to deflect another round of attacks as Vaggie shifted their stance to parry.
"Not bad, not bad at all! I might even break a sweat here!" Vaggie said excitedly.
Taylor only had time to smile as another barrage of slices came at them with blinding speed. They could barely finish a thought before the next round came, but somehow, they could keep up with the warrior demoness. Taylor felt the gap in experience and knew they had little chance of winning, so they settled on having a good defense until they found an opening. Despite deflecting and parrying Vaggie's attacks, Taylor kept getting pushed back by the onslaught, and before they knew it, their back hit the wall. They tensed as Vaggie aimed her spear at Taylor's face and without thinking, they brought up a wall of red flames between them, stopping the assault. Vaggie jumped back and stared back with a pout. Taylor brought down the wall as they slumped against the wall to catch their breath.
"Sorry, sorry! The fire just happened instinctually." They took another breath and huffed out. "You sure don't hold back. Couldn't you have gone easier on me?" Taylor gasped out.
"And ruin the fun? I haven't had a good spar in a while." They smirked as walked over. Vaggie leaned against the wall next to Taylor. "We need to work on getting you on the offensive, you're too timid in your approach. You're never gonna hit it out of the park if you don't swing."
Taylor stood back up as they chuckled.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was part of the individual therapy you and Charlie had planned."
"Maybe it can be a part of it."
"Not if you don't give me a chance to talk." They joked.
"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind." Vaggie mused before patting Taylor's shoulder. "But thanks for putting up with the thrashing, I think it will be a help to the both of us."
Taylor nodded as Vaggie smiled back. The two heard a squee in the distance as they looked over and saw Charlie in the doorway across the room, a bundle of barely restrained energy. She bound over to them and spoke excitedly, voice echoing in the large room.
"That was so great! I love the idea of physical therapy; it could help you relax enough to talk openly!" She grabbed both into a bone-crushing hug as she jumped around excitedly. "You'll see Taylor, you'll be redeemed in no time!"
Taylor tried to laugh but could only grunt out,
"Not if you and Vaggie kill me first! Charlie, I can't breathe!" The blonde demoness apologized and let them go, making all three laughed together. 'Maybe this won't be so bad.' Taylor thought hopefully.
Inside an office building with a breathtaking view of Pentagram City, Carmilla Carmine sat at her desk, going over some weapons shipment requests. Two young demonesses came into the room with apprehensive looks on their faces.
"Mother?" A pale skinned blonde demoness wearing a lab coat greeted tentatively.
"Yes, dears?" Carmilla replied, looking up from their work.
"Some intelligence has come in that is of interest." A puce skinned demoness with curly white hair and a crop-top turtleneck and jean-shorts and stockings responded, holding a file in her hand.
The demoness passed a file over to the Overlord with a serious look. Carmilla gazed at her daughter's worried looks before coolly taking the file. Reading it quickly, she flinched at the contents and gritted her teeth.
"This could be a real problem if we don't nip it in the bud. Call an Overlord meeting, we need to talk about this and the reduced Extermination timeline anyway." She ordered tensely. The two demonesses nodded and left the room, still with worried looks. Carmilla turned in her chair and gazed out the window at the red sky.
'A demon that can annul soul contracts. One who can shatter how we Overlords maintain our power. This could spell trouble unless we cut it from the equation.' She contemplated.